ken castor

Following Jesus vs. @%#$&!!!

It's frustrating... but I still get some flack from some corners of the globe about using the term "Jesus Follower" as the designation of my faith.  Strangely, the flack comes from Christians... Christians who for the most part seem to truly believe in Jesus and dare-I-say follow him.  What they are concerned about is what they perceive to be my rejection of the word "Christian" as the designation I take upon myself.  Oddly, some have accused me of liberalism while others of ultra-fundamentalism.  In the end, I don't care.  I just want to follow Jesus.

First of all, I never have rejected the word "Christian."  It's a fantastic word, and should be a badge of honor carried by those who follow Christ.  In fact, I consider myself to be a very passionate Christian according to it's original usage!  Originally it was a title given to those who followed Jesus (see Acts 11:26) in the city of Syrian Antioch during the days of Paul and Barnabas.  In that church community there seemed to be a great emphasis on the power of the Lord, an environment of encouragement, on the Holy Spirit, on serving people and giving resources to help others... oh... and also on "great numbers" of people being  brought to the Lord... all in a culture where persecution impacted the practice of faith. 

In Acts 11, the term "Christian" was a label given to those who followed Jesus so that people could identify them for what they were all about.  At that time in Syrian Antioch, those who followed Jesus were all about walking in the way of Jesus Christ.  That clearly meant they were "of Christ" (Christian), or Christ-like. 

And so this is my beef.  In North America today, the term "Christian" is rarely synonymous with the qualities of the church in Syrian Antioch back in those days in Acts 11.  Today, the term "Christian" implies all kinds of connotations.  Some connotations are bland (eg. cultural, religious upbringing, family heritage, conservative or liberal politics) and some connotations are blatantly negative (eg. judgmental attitudes, superiority complexes, hypocritical behaviors, conservative or liberal politics).  Very few references to the word "Christian" in the media or common jargon in the West today are construed as positive with Jesus Christ as the central component of the term.  In other words, I'm not sure "of Christ" is the idea most people have when they think of North American "Christians" today.

If "Christian" meant what it once did, I'd use the phrase all the time.  But I wonder which scenario is more likely today:

1. Imagine seeing me help someone on the street and witnesses were to say, "Wow, that was really cool.  There's another Christian!"
2. Imagine seeing me preach about behavior and then getting caught in a public sex scandal and witnesses were to say, "Wow, that hypocritical, arrogant @#%&%!!!.  There's another Christian!"

If those who walk with Jesus today in North America can overcome the loss of the term "Christian" to what has become in many usages a mockery of Christ, then I would rejoice.  I'd love to see the word "Christian" redeemed from it's tragic trajectory.  But in order for this to happen, Christians must once again commonly exhibit the traits of those who follow Jesus Christ first and foremost with their lives.  In John 8:12 Jesus says that those who follow him won't stumble in the darkness.  In John 8:31 Jesus says that those who truly are his disciples are those who keep obeying his teachings.  In John 10 Jesus describes those who listen to his voice as being his sheep... and everyone else as being thieves, robbers, hired-hands and wolves.  In John 12:26 Jesus says that anyone who wants to be his disciple must come and follow him, because his servants must be where he is.  In John 15 Jesus says that his people should remain in him and should produce much good fruit.  And this is just scratching the surface of what it means to truly be "Christian."

I pray that we Christians get back to the place where we are known for having a great emphasis on the power of the Lord, an environment of encouragement, on the Holy Spirit, on serving people and giving resources to help others... oh... and also on "great numbers" of people being  brought to the Lord... all in a culture where persecution impacts the practice of our faith... When we are doing that, then the term "Christian" will once again have it's useful rather than deluded or stumble-causing meaning. 

incarnational body

[INCARNATIONAL SERIES part 2]

   “One of the greatest hindrances to internal peace which the Christian encounters is the common habit of dividing our lives into two areas, the sacred and the secular.  As these areas are conceived to exist apart from each other and to be morally and spiritually incompatible, and as we are compelled by the necessities of living to be always crossing back and forth from the one to the other, our inner lives tend to break up so that we live a divided instead of a unified life.”   - A.W. Tozer 1

    Followers of Jesus have an all too common tendency to compartmentalize faith and life.  Generally speaking, from my experience in churches around North America for the last 27 years, I've come to believe that there is a huge disconnect among Christians between the sacred and the secular, between theology and life, between Sunday and every other day, between love and action.  The idea of being part of the Body of Christ is often severed between the inner and outer workings of our mind and hearts.   The fusion of our discipleship and our daily “business” interactions with others can seem elusive.    (The diagram shows how we often segregate "church" from what we consider our "real life").
    Because of the Incarnation of Jesus, the onus is now on us to live an incarnated life of ministry together as the Church, his Body.  Jesus commands his disciples to be his witnesses by doing what he did.2   This implies being willing to go to similarly extreme lengths in order in order to share the love and life of Jesus with others… even to the point of laying down everything, including our very lives for the sake of serving God and others.3   In other words, we are to go into the world as a knit-community sharing with every neighbor, nation, tribe and tongue the person of Jesus Christ, who himself came into the world.  Just as Jesus did not grasp onto his divine rights as God, but made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant in human flesh, so are his followers to exhibit the same attitude.4
    But "followers" of Jesus tend to compartmentalize and privatize our discipleship.  We tend to view the spiritual life as separate from our regular life.  We tend to view evangelism as the job of the employed staff that we hire to do that sort of thing.  We tend to treat church as a building, or as a one-hour Sunday gathering, rather than as the incarnational identity of God’s missional people in this world.   Our faith, which should be transformational and encompassing, tends instead to be hidden to neighbors and coworkers during the rest of the week.   

1 Tozer, A.W. The Pursuit of God.  Harrisburg, PA: Christian Publications, 1968, 117.
2 Matthew 28:18-19; Mark 16:15-20; John 15:26-27; 17:20-26; Acts 1:7-8.
3 Luke 14:25-33, John 15:13
4 Philippians 2:5-8

Making a Meal of It

Ben Witherington's site last Thursday offered a quick preview of his new book on Communion.  Check out this link and scroll down to "Making a Meal of It-- Rethinking the Theology of the Last Supper."  It's similar in scope to my postings on Communion on this site, only I'm sure much much better.

Re: communion 9/9

Re:volution

Implementing a Communion re:volution won't necessarily occur with ease in the postmodern, engineered, affluent, western mindset of young adults in Calgary.  But I find affirmation in the endurance of Jesus as he modeled Communion for his about-to-fail disciples.  Our evangelical church body must re:capture the Jewish roots of the table in Communion.  We must comprehend and model the story of the great Feasts and the celebrations of God's Old Testament w as a Re:deemer of Israel.  Vander Zee instructs that "e cannot begin to understand the meaning of the Lord's Supper without reckoning with the fact that, before everything else, it is a Jewish meal."[1] 

We must, in other words, re:cognize that the entire sacrificial system of the Old Testament cultus was premised on an expression of Communion.  Not only is Jesus the quintessential[2] sacrificial, Paschal lamb,[3] but he also epitomizes the provisional scapegoat.  The sacrifices under the Old Testament Law depicted and anticipated a day when God would provide an end to the re:petition of shame and guilt.  Now, because of Christ's once-for-all sacrifice, the petitions may be presented to God with thanksgiving and his peace, which transcends all understanding, may forever guard our hearts in minds in Christ Jesus.[4]  The tangible aspects of the sacrificial system are given their efficacy in the Lord's Supper.  The acted symbol is clear: by this sacrifice, re:connection with God occurs.

While exploring the roots of Communion in the Old Testament story, the young adult group of which I'm a primary ministry leader will learn and begin to practice the common elements of a Jewish meal.  Eventually, I hope it will become our common practice to share the Lord's Supper while engaged in a communal feast.  During our meals together, we will demonstrate together how Jesus took the bread, blessed the bread, broke the bread, and gave the bread.  We will learn together the rich depth of the Passover feast,[5] recalling the redemptive acts of God in the history and the salvation action coming in the future.  "In this way," as Paul says, "we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

Communion depicts like nothing else the action of our Savior and our willingness and commitment to be like him and with him together.  Communion is an acted parable of our identity as people who find their worth, purpose and impetus for action in Jesus Christ.  The identity of this new community is derived in the death and resurrection of Christ as well as the rebirth offered to those who are drawn to him by his Spirit.

And so I have proposed that Communion be an integral part of the shaping of the identity of the now embryonic community of young adults through the ministry of God among the people of Brentview Baptist. I intend to utilize Kreider's four steps to implement a re:volution of Communion within an established community of believers that already has formed a traditional practice of the Lord's Supper.  Paraphrasing Kreider's suggestions, I intend to:[6]

1.      Connect with the realities within the church that limit the celebratory embrace of Communion

2.      Work within the church's tradition to retain elements that do not hinder the essence of Communion while introducing desired changes through engaging demonstration and explanation.

3.      Choose Scripture well and link teachings to the Lord's Supper.

4.      Finally, allow for development of the inward vision and commitment of the community in response to the re:newed approach to Communion.

As we gather together on Sunday nights, launching what we pray becomes a new and mighty mission, Communion will enable us to more effectively be spiritually formed.  In fact, our young adult group, with the support of a mentoring Elder, attempted our first step towards this Communion re:volution at a retreat in January.  On a Sunday morning, after our gathered group had witnessed together a baptism and testimony of God's work in someone's life, we joined in praise to God through song.  We then meditated on Scripture together through teaching and discussion.  The culmination of the morning came, we moved toward tables for a Sunday brunch.  As the food was set out and the aroma saturated the dining room, we took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it out to one another.  And so a re:newed practice of Communion had begun. 

By under girding our community and identity through Communion, I am eager to see how God will be present with us in our prayer and worship much as he was with the earliest church and how his presence will profoundly re:shape us. 

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[1] Vander Zee, 140.

[2] Vander Zee refers to Jesus as the "Quintessential Sacrament" (45).

[3] John 1:29; Exodus 12:3ff.

[4] Philippians 4:6-9

[5] As Vander Zee says, "the remembrance, or anamnesis, to which Christ calls us comes from the richness of the Passover feast.  It is not just a call to historical memory, but a call to a present participation in the saving events of history.  Remembrance in the Passover meant the identification by the participant of these past events with their present involvement in those events that happened long before." Vander Zee, 210

[6] Kreider, 161-162.

Re: communion 8/9

Re:formation

In my ministry context, the re:newing of Communion to a central role in the life of the church is a necessary component of any plan of spiritual formation for the young adults of Brentview Baptist. God desires to meet with us not just in the cerebral preaching of the Word but also in the tangible symbol of his Table.[1]  It is on this Table of sacrifice that his anointing and blessing are poured out for us and on us.  For this reason Vander Zee points out that “Jesus wants us to receive the bread and wine, which are his body and blood, as powerful symbols that carry with them the redeeming power of his death and resurrection that bring us to eternal life, and as a personal confirmation of his presence among us.”[2]  Continuing, Vander Zee suggests that “eating Jesus’ body and drinking his blood is the most vivid imaginable way of being both participants and beneficiaries of his death on the cross and the resurrection by which it won the victory over sin and death.”[3] 

Naturally, then, the practice of Communion will have to be re:formed.  The funeral march at the end of the service with the most meager of memorial snack foods must come to an end.  The feast of re:pentant celebration must begin.  Biblically, as noted above, and historically such an approach has merit.  Vander Zee suggests that “the likely setting of the Lord’s Supper in the early church is an agape feast, a church potluck if you will, to which all were invited on a Sunday.”[4]  And Kreider suggests that church communities today “can be set free to transform and shape our everyday lives” through a re:discovered practice of true Communion.[5]  As Eugene Peterson says, the Lord’s Supper “is the definitive action practiced in the Christian community that keeps Jesus Christ before us as the Savior of the world and our Savior, and ourselves as sinners in need of being saved.”[6]   And so it follows that by this action followers of Jesus will be re:oriented with deeper passion for God and for one another.  Kreider says that such spiritual formation will occur “when the Lord’s Supper, graced by God’s presence and Word, oriented to the living Lord and empowered by the Spirit, is fully restored to the place it had in the early centuries- as the central communal Christian act of worship.”[7] 

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[1] Vander Zee adds: “We begin to see that preaching and sacrament are different mediums of communication of the same Word, both of which are essential.” Vander Zee, 191.

[2] Ibid., 153.

[3] Ibid., 153.

[4] Ibid., 157.

[5] Kreider, 15.

[6] Peterson, Eugene, 203.

[7] Kreider, 15.

Re: communion 7/9

Re:pentance

When Communion loses its place as an effective symbol in the Corinthian church, Paul loses his patience!  Divisions, self-absorbance and gluttony[1] had infiltrated the community of believers in Corinth, forcing Paul to write a scathing admonition to them.  “But when I mention this next issue [of the Lord’s Supper], I cannot praise you,” he writes.  “For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together.”[2]  Paul then soberly decrees:

“It is not the Lord’s Supper you are concerned about when you come together… If anyone eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily, that person is guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord.  That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking from the cup.  For if you eat the bread or drink the cup unworthily, not honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself.” (NLT)[3]

Communion, when misapplied or mishandled by the church, fails to offer Christ’s invitation to properly re:member.  Too often we pharisaically exclude from the Lord’s Table those people who have not yet “accepted Christ” while we eat the bread and drink the cup with division and arrogance in our own “saved” hearts.  Jesus invites sinners to the Table!  He levels the field through his own humility, serving each one of us with his garments as a towel.[4]  It is no coincidence that Jesus washed the feet of his followers before the Communion meal.  This simple act of humble service symbolized the extreme love Jesus has for others and it urges us to be of like mind.  The act re:calls the re:action of Zacchaeus, filthy with sin, who accepted the invitation to enter into humble communion with Jesus.  So moved by Jesus’ invitation, in fact, Zacchaeus re:pented and re:conciled himself to everyone else and, in so doing, gained salvation.[5]  Another dreaded tax collector named Levi did the same.[6]  Simon the Pharisee, haughty with religious pride, in contrast, ate and drank God’s judgment upon himself.[7]  To Simon’s dismay, Jesus invites every sinner to dine and find communion with him.[8]  Vander Zee shares that “since eating was an act of fellowship and acceptance, to eat with sinners was to accept them as friends and companions.”[9] Clapp concurs saying, “the Lord dined at an open table… This was to his contemporaries one of his most shocking and objectionable behaviors.  They understood what it meant: it signaled acceptance, friendship and empowerment of the tax-collector, the Gentile, the whore.”[10]

But when the Lord’s Supper is diminished in its practice, disunity, rather than community, prevails.  Just as a song can be sung from the lips without engaging the heart, so the acted rite of communion does not guarantee one’s genuineness in relationship with God or one another.  A fractured Church made up of individuals who focus on their own selves fails to recognize that “we have all been baptized into Christ’s body by one Spirit.”[11] 

So Paul urges the Corinthian beleivers to reconcile themselves to God prior to joining with one another.[12]  He also urges them to reconcile their actions with one another when they gather to “do this in remembrance” of the Lord Jesus.[13]  Vander Zee notes that through the practice of Communion we deepen our relationship with one another in the Body of Christ.  “In Paul’s understanding,” he says, “the Holy Spirit creates deep relationships in the body of Christ by our participation in the Lord’s Supper.”[14] While there are many parts to the body, there is only one body. [15]

As a primary ministry leader for the young adults among Brentview Baptist Church in Calgary, I am responsible to encourage and facilitate unity.  In her pastoral collaboration with Eugene Peterson, Marva Dawn describes that “one major function of the pastor that seems unnecessary to the world is to equip the congregation for its reconciling work in society and to make sure that congregants remain reconciled with each other.”[16]  For this reason, I am ever more convinced that the implementation of a re:newed practice of Communion should contribute impressively to the continually deepening formation of a community reconciled with God and others. 

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[1] 1 Corinthians 11:18, 21

[2] 1 Corinthians 11:17

[3] 1 Corinthians 11:20, 27-29

[4] “Before the Passover celebration… Jesus got up from the table, took off his rove, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin.  Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he had around him.” John 13:1, 4-5 (NLT) 

[5] Luke 19:1-10

[6] Mark 2:15

[7] Luke 7:36-50; 1 Corinthians 11:32

[8] Mark 2:13-17

[9] Vander Zee, 141.

[10]             Clapp, Rodney, A Peculiar People: The Church as Culture in a Post-Christian Society (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 108.

[11] 1 Corinthians 11:25 (NLT)

[12] 1 Corinthians 11:31

[13] Paul instructs the Corinthians to wait for each other rather than arriving early and gorging on the meal and becoming drunk on the beverage.  1 Corinthians 11:33

[14] Vander Zee, 43.

[15] 1 Corinthians 12:20

[16]             Peterson, Eugene and Marva Dawn, The Unnecessary Pastor: Rediscovering the Call (Grand Rapids, MI: 2000), 219.

Re: communion 6/9

~Re:telling~

“Last Supper” is actually somewhat of a misnomer.[1]  The so called “last” supper of Christ, on that Passover night when he would later be kissed by Judas and arrested, was to become for his followers the “first” supper meal in an eternity of feasting with our Savior.  In fact, it wasn’t long before Jesus was eating with his disciples again.  Shortly after the resurrection, Jesus supped with two disciples in Emmaus.  Even though Jesus was the guest, Luke reports[2] that he took a small loaf of bread, asked God’s blessing on it, broke it, and then gave it to the two men.  John tells us of a time when our resurrected Savior prepared fish and bread for four of the disciples.[3]  The introduction to the book of Acts begins with a casual mention of Jesus eating a meal with his followers before he ascended to heaven.[4] 

A few weeks later, at Pentecost, this small band of spiritual brothers and sisters was joined by thousands.  They joined together in devotion to prayer and to the teaching of the apostles as well as to fellowship with one another.  In this context, as God began his massive re:gathering of his scattered people, these thousands of early Christians communed, Luke tells us, by sharing in the Lord’s Supper.[5]  Their unity together was unlimited. They shared their wealth, their possessions, their time and their homes with everyone as there was need.  They worshipped together in the Temple every day.  And, Luke informs us, “they met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity- all while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people.  And daily, God gave salvation to more people who then became a part of this incredible group.[6]

“Keeping in mind these references to the breaking of the bread after Christ’s resurrection,” Vander Zee contends, “ensures that we will not mistakenly assume that the Lord’s Supper merely carries the somber mood of the impending crucifixion.  Yes, we eat and drink to ‘proclaim the Lord’s death,’ as Paul puts it.  But we also do so ‘until he comes,” which puts us in the mood of joyful anticipation.”[7]  Similarly, Kreider writes that “nothing should obscure the overarching emphasis of truly thankful prayers that express joy in God’s salvation, in the advent of God’s reign.”[8] 

Such joyful unity is essential within the Christian community.  Communion is an absolutely integral component of the re:formative work of the Holy Spirit throughout history.  Communion is the ultimate, interactive portrayal of the breaking of Christ’s body so that the Church could become the Body of Christ on earth.[9]  From his slaughter comes our hope!  “This is my body, which is given for you,”[10] Jesus said.  And “this cup is the new covenant between God and you, sealed by the shedding of my blood.  Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” 

Communion draws us together as a body.  “We all eat from one loaf, showing that we are one body,” Paul comments.[11]  Christ’s body was broken so ours could be re:stored.   As one entity the many parts come together.  Kreider explains that “as we come to his table again and again, we learn to bring more of ourselves, to receive more of him, to experience the deeply joyful solidarity with others at the Lord’s table with us.”[12]

  As Paul reminded the fractious Corinthian church, “Now all of you together are Christ’s body,”[13] so he also encouraged the Ephesian believers, “We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future.”[14] Oh, how God desires to commune with us!  Through his blood shed and his body given, we are enabled to share with him our very lives.  As a result, we also participate with one another in an eternally profound fellowship.

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[1] Vander Zee concurs, cf. 155.

[2] Luke 24:30

[3] John 21:9

[4] Acts 1:4

[5] Acts 2:42

[6] Acts 2:45-47

[7] Vander Zee, 156-157.

[8] Kreider, 33.

[9] 1 Corinthians 11:26

[10] 1 Corinthians 11:24 (NLT)

[11] 1 Corinthians 10:17 (NLT)

[12] Kreider, 22.

[13] 1 Corinthians 12:27

[14] Ephesians 4:4

Re: communion 5/9

Re:connection

And so I have come to learn that Communion is much more than an “occasional prop” that is added to the end of a Sunday morning service.[1]  It is, therefore, my intention to discover and embrace a fresh approach to Communion as we begin again in Calgary.  Leonard Vander Zee has noted that “as physical beings, we need more than words to bring us into relationship with Christ.”[2]  So I intend to immerse my heart and soul in the practice of Communion with others in such a way that we better learn to live as a community.  Said more distinctly, through a re:newed practice of Communion we will learn to better live united with God and one another. 

God desires to sup with his family.  Jesus dined with his disciples and with the worst of sinners.  Jesus fed multitudes through the blessing and breaking of bread.  Communion from God’s perspective is his invitation to join him at the table.  Kreider comments that “if we follow our earliest Christian brothers and sisters, we will embrace the unabashed joy and cleansing release of Jesus’ encounter with us at the table.  Jesus’ words ‘Do this’ are not so much command as invitation to his friendship and to vulnerable fellowship at his table.”[3]

In effect, by Communion God calls out to the entire world, “Dinner is ready!  Come home!”  He has prepared a table for us and invites us to be his guests of honor.  He serves us as we enter, grasping a towel to wash our feet with loving care.  He listens to us and showers us with his attention.  No meager portions or insufficient provisions exist at God’s table.  All is lavished with God’s abundant grace. 

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[1] Vander Zee wrote: “Evangelicals have so emphasized the preaching of the Word that the sacraments have become mere occasional props.” Ibid., 24.

[2] Ibid., 24.

[3] Kreider, 22.

Re: communion 4/9

~Re:newal~

Prior to this assignment I had been growing increasingly uncomfortable with the manner in which Communion is typically “celebrated” in my evangelical tradition.  My experience of Communion has, honestly, been gloomy.  I have become discouraged by the paltry, stale individualistic squares of bread and the small shot glasses of grape juice.  I have become critical in my heart of the solemn march of the ushers, who remind me of pall-bearers at a funeral.  In the past few years, even as I have “officiated” over the ordinance, I have rarely felt liberated or uplifted through the breaking of Christ’s body and the pouring of his blood. Instead, I have felt oppressed and heavy, focusing on the shame of my sin and practicing an increasingly isolated expression of faith.  I resonate with Eleanor Kreider who suggests that the current “observance” of the Lord’s Supper among evangelical churches today carries “little resemblance to the meal that Christ celebrated with his disciples.[1]  Robert Webber adds a concurring comment:

“In many churches, the experience of eating at God’s table is sober, uninviting, tense, and boring.  The faithful… need a refreshing and joyous experience of the meaning of eating… There is a need to recapture the warmth of God, the joy of eating, the transfer of God’s power to our lives, the formation of community.  For it is here in this act of eating that the faithful will find their continual refreshment and sustenance in the food that, by the power of the Holy Spirit confirms faith in truth.”[2]

Thankfully, the biblical characteristics of the Lord’s Supper trump the western, evangelical tendency to accentuate the dirge.  For instance, we know and proclaim that the crucified Savior is now the Living Messiah, in the grave no longer!  Communion is much more than the first half of the Passover event.  The story did not end with the pouring of blood!  How could we demonstrably stop telling the second half?  Communion, as God so graciously re:minds us, involves eucharistic hope!  Communion with God and others is partaking in the re:telling of the Good News- which, by the way, is a story that concludes when eternity ends!

            Communion, thankfully, is so much richer than my poor spirit is able to grasp.  Communion reveals in actuality a treasure-trove of God’s grace.  Communion is a tangible, participatory, collective re:enactment of the deliverance and exodus we have each and all received from the hands of God himself.  Robert Webber describes Communion as “perhaps the most profound act in which we engage” ourselves in the church.  “Eating at God’s table,” Webber states, “brings into sharp focus everything one experiences during the entire journey to Christ and into the church.”[3]  That re:focusing action serves as a re:minder to us of Christ’s saving work as the Passover Lamb.  It is a re:telling of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Communion is a symbol whereby we participate in with other believers in the past work and future hope of our Savior.  It is, as Paul teaches the Corinthians, the receiving and participating “in the benefits” of the body and blood of Christ.[4]  And, oh, what benefits we share!  Communion invites us to re:member and re:embrace the fact that our servant-hearted God came to this earth and washed our sin away through his death on the cross and, subsequently, he extended to us the re:storation of our re:lationship with him.  As Vander Zee suggests:

“One of the most powerful aspects of this meal that we celebrate in memory of Jesus is that it re-members us.  We are lost in our sins, separated from God our Creator.  Our lives may be broken and troubled, our relationships sometimes full of tension or bitterness.  When we do this in remembrance of Jesus, when we take the bread and wine that are his body and blood and share them with each other, we are re-membering.  We find our identity again in that stream of shared memory that is the Christian story, anchored in Jesus’ cross and resurrection.  We are being put back together, reunited through Jesus with our Father in heaven, and united with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.”[5]

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[1]               Kreider, Eleanor.  Communion Shapes Character (Waterloo, Ont: Herald Press, 1997), 20.

[2]               Webber, Robert E. Journey to Jesus: The Worship, Evangelism, and Nurture Mission of the Church. (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2001), 188.

[3] Webber, 182.

[4] 1 Corinthians 10:16-17

[5]               Vander Zee, Leonard J., Christ, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper: Recovering the Sacraments for Evangelical Worship (Downer’s Grove, Il: InterVarsity Press, 2004), 211-212.

Re: communion 3/9

~Re:direction~

In many ways, this assignment seems for me to have been ordained by God in time and place.  On Monday, February 5, 2007, just three days after writing all this, my family crammed into our suitcase-and-box-filled-mini-van to drive across the Canadian Rockies.  Our destination was a new mission, a new calling of ministry alongside a passionate gathering of Christians in Calgary, Alberta.  My new role, as a pastor with Brentview Baptist Church, is to facilitate the structure and identity of ministry and fellowship among the young adults of the church and of the surrounding community.  Those in the young adult category in Brentview are numerous, but they are a fragmented group.  They have tended in the last few years to segment into cells and many of them have not invested heavily into the larger church body.  While some small fellowship groups have provided opportunities for spiritual formation for some, many young adults have become unintentionally isolated, lost or forgotten along the way.  It is to this group that I am to serve as a ministry leader, developing a Sunday evening service targeting this group and launching effective ministry projects in the hopes of reaching the University of Calgary across the street and the thousands of talented and educated young adults in the city. 

But even more than developing targeted services, events and projects, however, I believe that God aims for me to come alongside people, individually and corporately, in order to develop ever-deepening followers of Jesus.  My premise, as I begin in Calgary, is that ministry leadership is the exercise of serving and equipping people within a community in such a way that those people live for Jesus, love others and catalyze a movement of Jesus followers in this world. 

As a primary ministry leader, therefore, I plan to serve and equip the community of young adults within the sphere of Brentview Baptist in order to do God’s work and build up the church, Christ’s body.  And that mission will not be completed until, as Paul says, we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.[1]  The plan for serving and equipping the young adults of Calgary will most likely consist of a blended approach highlighting the deepening of community and of an identity that must inevitably include Communion as an integral part of how the identity of this young adult community will be shaped into humble, joyful followers of Jesus that re:tell the story of re:demption.

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[1] Ephesians 4:12-13