Punjabi Bibles

I just want to thank those who gave funds for Punjabi Bibles on the Sept. 5/6 weekend. 

We were able to give Pastor Sahota over $3200 towards the purchase of Bibles.  They have to order them in batches of 1000 to get the cheapest price so the money given will help towards this. 

I am constantly amazed at the generosity of Northview people.  Thank you for being open to using your finances to further the Kingdom of God.

For those of you interested in some special Indian snacks…

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Holy God!

I have been reading a really fantastic book over the last few weeks called, The Courage To Be Protestant by David Wells. It is a summary of four other outstanding books he wrote during the 1990s and early 2000s about the evangelical church and how it has interacted (and often absorbed uncritically) the hopes and dreams of Western culture. I wanted to pass along a quote from him that I think summarizes why we struggle with many of the problems that we have in our churches today.  Here it is…

Our situation today is not that different from what pertained in much of Israel’s history. The Old Testament people of God were religious, but often their religion made little difference. This, apparently, is exactly what we have in the born-again sector in America today. The ancient Israelites’ religion was not an impediment to idol worship or to a whole assortment of pagan practices. They had the written law and the temple worship. They had the prophets. They had all they needed to please God, but so often they would not listen. They would not reckon with his holy will. They became careless, living as if he were not there, living as if their ways were nothing more than a lifestyle choice, always hearing but never understanding, seeing but remaining blind – hearts hard, ears deaf, eyes blind. And the problem? The problem was that again and again, with monotonous repetition, they lost sight of the holiness of God. And they paid the painful consequences for this, again and again.

 

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Holly

I watched a DVD (not Blu-Ray, haven’t advanced that far yet!), the other night on the recommendation of a staff member with International Justice Mission (IJM).  It was one of the hardest movies to watch that I’ve ever experienced.  Here is the description from the DVD case…

”Holly”, shot on location in Cambodia, including many scenes in actual brothels in the notorious red light district of Phnom Penh, HOLLY is a captivating, touching and emotional experience. 

Patrick (Ron Livingston), an American card shark and dealer of stolen artifacts, has been “comfortably numb” in Cambodia for years, when he encounters Holly (Thuy Nguyen), a 12-year-old Vietnamese girl, in the K11 red light village.  The girl has been sold by her impoverished family and smuggled across the border to work as a prostitute.

Holly’s virginity makes her a lucrative prize, and when she is sold to a child trafficker, Patrick embarks on a frantic search through both the beautiful and sordid faces of the country, in an attempt to bring her to safety.

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Blog questions: September

Blog questions:

Sure, I have raised three kids, but my kids are all grown and on their own now. 

I have been reading books and the information is great, thought provoking and sometimes even inspiring. 

But I would really like to know what real Canadian parents think. 

If you are a parent, I would love for you to take a few minutes, and answer the questions that I will be posting each month. 

So, check out the question, think it over and let me know what you think.

 

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Oh, There Are 10,000 Charms…

Over the last few months, several of our worship leaders have led a hymn called ‘Come Ye Sinners’  (I Will Arise and Go To Jesus). Each time it has been sung, a few individuals are bothered by the line, “And in the arms of my great Saviour, oh there are 10,000 charms”. The most common question that arises is something along the lines that charms have to do with witchcraft, so why are we singing about it in church? In fact, I’ve encountered the same concern on internet worship forums. Here are a few thoughts to help you overcome any hesitations about singing these words as an expression of your worship to Jesus!

First of all, I wanted to assure people that we as worship leaders take great pains to assess the lyrical content of what we sing in church services. These are acts of worship, proclamatory truths, and creeds. They are also songs of expressing our hearts and thoughts toward God, and about Him. 

Second, looking directly at the phrase in question, poetic language such as is written in lyrics, often takes the approach of painting pictures with words. Taking one single word out of its context, much like interpreting Scripture, does not give full meaning to the reader. 

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