god can be found...even in times square

well, last night was a total success!

a packed house sat and listened to our own jeremiah witt as he showcased his photography and spoke about the various places that he sees god's handprint.

for years he has been taking pictures of various items and for the past few months he has been taking pictures of things specifically for this event.

however, the power from the night came from the raw honesty and willingness to explore and find god in surprising places that truly impacted the immersion community.

we were shown god in a twisted tree, in rivers, in lakes, in mountains and even in the power of geysers, we saw god in the lone, golden leaf standing out in a snow-covered field. we saw caves as god's 'workshop' where the sense of humour of the Almighty can be exercised. we were shown a bible and told that god is in there. not just because of the words or the book itself but also because it began it's journey as a living tree...the living word come from the living world.

but, where some of us feel we learned something was that jera showed us that god can be seen in things made by people too. from the olympic tower in montreal to the front of our own building, we were shown that a building can show the spiritual journeys of architect to architecture to artisan and artist...each one guided by the creative hand of the creator.

we were shown that god can even be in those places that are out-and-out considered unholy. times square has rarely been seen as a hub of godliness but jera countered that by saying that millions of people have walked through this famous [and infamous] part of new york and if god is with them then god is there. god is no prude...god is a saviour and a saviour goes where the people who need saving are!

in relationships we see god's love and desire for us to enjoy community and to know that we are not alone in this world. friends pick us up and comfort and console us and, in doing that, enact the mandate that we are called to love one another and do unto them what we would have them do unto us.

where have we heard that before?

afterwards people thought that what was powerful was the idea that these pictures communicated: anything can be beautiful when looked at through the eyes of god. one does not have to be wearing a tuxedo or evening gown to be beautiful...the truly beautiful person is the one who possesses inner beauty and character regardless of what adorns their outer person.

the message of the gospel is that god is not a judge of the exterior....but the truest judge of the heart

we listened to christmas carols with rock n' roll beats and some funkier songs that sang of the christmas message of a god who loves us all so much that he went to unimaginable lengths to bring wayward humans back into the fold. it is good to see god in the little and surprising things in everyday life...but it is also good to see god in the extraordinary and miraculous. for our god, this god jehovah....yahweh...elohim...this god, yeshua....jesus is a god of true power and true grace and true compassion and true humility and when we start to see this god every day we can start to become more like this god everyday and in every way.

what a wonderful service to send us all into the christmas season

thanks jera

and merry christmas to all!!

where i see god....through the medium of photography

our very own jera (beloved by all) has been snapping pics and will be sharing with us tomorrow night about where he sees god in everyday life.

this is such a valuable chance for our community to be blessed by the spiritual journey of another.

it is also a chance for each one of us to find a voice and a way to communicate the way we talk to & see god in order to bless others

we are called to follow god and part of that journey means revealing what we are seeing to others...kind of like a tour-guide for the divine.

if there are others in our community who want the chance to use their gifts/passions to communicate god and bring praise to the One from whom we receive those gifts and comfort to our fellow-journeyers please start brainstorming and immersion would love to facilitate such an experience.

looking forward to seeing part of jera's journey....looking forward to seeing how it impacts the journeys of others as well.

shalom.

edenism: we're watching garbage!

we're going to the screening of the film garbage at the immersion theatre house

either meet at walt's house at 7pm

OR

meet at our theatre house for the 730 show

this event is FREE

[click here for directions to the theatre house]

read up on the side what the film is about

it is a perfect addition to our ongoing edenism series where we discuss the spiritual ramifications of environmental issues.

PLEASE join us...if you have any questions email jamie at jamieatwalton@yahoo.ca

thanks...see you tomorrow as we watch 'garbage'

seder meal

last night's meal was a success. many of us gathered around a large table and said prayers together and followed a format similar to the Jewish Seder meal.

the great thing about many Jewish pasttimes is that they are so deliberate and intentional in showing how every action we make during something like a meal can have spiritual significance. we eat bitter herbs to show us the bitterness of the yolk of slavery experienced in Egypt. it also doubles to show us the bitterness of a life lived in sin and far from God.

we dip green herb in salt water and taste the tears and sadness of a life lived in bondage. we light candles and turn on lights to remove the darkness and, in so doing, enact the Light of the World entering into our communal and personal darkness[es].

we say prayers together, each of us taking a turn at leading, to show the priesthood of all believers. then, in the middle we sit down to eat a filling meal and talk about Jesus' attitude towards Gentiles.

we looked at Mark 7:24-30 the story of the Gentile woman who asked Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus then calls her a dog and tells her that dogs are not deserving of food set aside for the children. she replies that even dogs get scraps that fall from the children's table. Jesus seems impressed and tells her that her daughter is healed.

this story causes some discomfort because it does not appear to be the usual, kind Jesus that is more than willing to heal anyone who comes, he seems rude and dismissive. but the core issue here is in the mission of christ.

jesus was jewish, was a jewish messiah and came to the jewish people.

a gentile had no place in that salvation story. and Jesus says as much.

but then something wonderful happens: the gentile woman gets it!

Jesus has been telling all the Jewish people parable after parable and few seem to get what he is driving at. however, this woman, this pagan, gets what Jesus means and incorporates Jesus' image into her rebuttal.

she knows that she is not a child of God's chosen nation and she accepts Jesus' description of her scenario. and in that humility this woman showed what it meant to be a true follower, she showed true faith, she showed the true character of a child of God. she accepted that even a dog in this man's house was better than being a king anywhere else. she was desperate to see her daughter better and took everything Jesus sent her way...even an insult.

therein lies the power behind Jesus' response to her: he acknowledged her humility and rewarded her.

it is important not to try to wash away the offensive elements of this story because they teach us something about the character of Jesus and how we can approach him.

we are given the delightful ability to walk into the very throne room of God and petition the Almighty with whatever we have on our minds, whether trivial or important. the key to the character of the true follower is in the state of humility with which we approach. do we come in arrogance assuming that God must answer our demands or do we come in humility begging God and accepting whatever we receive?

in other words: are we willing to be dogs in God's house or would we rather be kings in our own?

it is not that God considers us dogs but it is important to realize that the Gentile believers came to the fold later on...were adopted in as it were. we are very much part of God's salvation story now and for that we should be humbled and grateful. but we must never forget that the story came to us from our Jewish brothers and sisters and we cannot understand Jesus unless we understand that he lived and taught as a Jewish man. after all, Jesus was not a christian!

the scandal of the message was that, just before the incident with the Gentile woman, Jesus taught that the Jewish cleansing rituals were not important because it is not what we eat that makes us impure but how we live and what we say. with that Jesus removed one of the great traditions that separated the Jews from the Gentiles. with this teaching Jesus showed that a Gentile could be on par with a Jew in the eyes of God because a Gentile was capable of doing good and a Jew was capable of evil, whether or not they washed their hands before eating became irrelevant.

then Jesus goes on to heal this woman to further prove his point. after all, this woman showed that it does not take a Jewish mind to understand the message of Jesus but, rather, a humble and contrite spirit. coming with nothing to offer and with no hope and a profound understanding that she did not deserve Jesus' favour ending up being the very things that so touched Jesus about this woman and caused him to offer her daughter relief.

the arrogance and entitlement of the religious leaders continually put Jesus off and ultimately led to these conceited individuals crying out for the death of the One they claimed to serve!

so, at the close of the tale, let us christians not make the same mistake as the religious leaders of Jesus' day. let us not approach Jesus with arrogance or with the idea that just because we go to church, or sit on a committee, or attend Bible study that we somehow have earned God's favour. all those things aid us in finding out who God is but these things are all for naught if we lose our sense of reverence and humility.

if we come to God seeing ourselves as unworthy he promises to lift us up and show us just how loved we really are. for the dogs of heaven beat the rulers of earth every time!

seder meal pt II

this post comes from an email between a couple of immersion people. while our discussion was great it barely scratched the surface of this topic. hopefully, this will help clear up some more questions so grab something to drink, get comfy and read away:

Okay, the history of the split comes later on and i think this is worth talking about. God moves where God moves and works with those who respond to his message. In Acts 10 we have Peter receiving a vision where God tells him to eat the animals that are considered unholy by the Jewish dietary laws. He tells God that he would never do that and God challenges him by saying that all things God has made are holy. Jesus would also challenge the Jewish dietary laws in the story right before the one we talked about last night. He told the religious leaders that it is not the food that enters into people that makes them unclean but the unholy words and deeds that come out of them. Once Jesus said that the great dietary divide that separated Jew from Gentile was abolished because it meant that any Jew could act in a way unpleasing to God and any Gentile could act in a way pleasing to God. According to Jesus, the things that made the Jewish people ethnically separate were not the same things that would get them into God's good graces.

So, back to Peter, after his vision he encounters some messengers from a Gentile Centurion named Cornelius who has sent for him because he is intrigued by this new Jewish sect called The Way (what Christianity was originally called).

Peter goes to the house of Cornelius and the entire household accepts Peter's proclamation of the Gospel (do yourself a favour and read it...it's really good) and the Holy Spirit falls on them like it did for the Jewish followers of Jesus on Pentecost.

Then Saul becomes Paul and begins to bring the message of Jesus to his fellow Jews who frequently refuse to hear or believe him. In fact, some even tried to kill him. However, Paul noticed that the Gentiles were receiving the message and asking what they could do to become part of the family. Paul seems to have grasped the grace of Jesus because he did not hesitate to include them in the saving plan of God. In fact, in Romans he even stated that he thought God was using the Gentiles to shame the Jews into realizing that the pagans were figuring God out faster than those who should know better.

He seemed to be convinced that sooner or later the Jewish people would
come around.

Some of the Jerusalem church followed after Paul and tried to convince the
Gentiles converts to The Way that, in order for the message of Christ to work
for them they needed to be circumcised and thus enter into the Covenant of
Abraham that separated the Jews for all others.

Paul was incensed and fought this thinking tooth and nail. He saw this as
compromising the message of Jesus and basically saying that the death of
God on a cross was not significant enough to bring all people into salvation...and it is there that we see the crux of the Jewish Gentile issue.

God always planned to save all people. But the way in which he does it is to get one person on board. That person was Abraham. From that one man a nation was born that would be blessed by God so that they could, in turn, bless the world. He even puts them in the land that was considered the crossways of the ancient world so that every other nation would pass through and hear the message of God. Instead, the Jewish people hoarded the message and used their status to make themselves feel superior.

Thus, when Jesus came he was doing the same thing. He spoke and acted in the ways of the Jewish prophets and referred to the Torah for all his teaching. He showed himself to be the Messiah spoken about by the prophets; although eh was not the kind of Messiah the Jews thought he should be. Sadly, because of preconceived notions of what the messiah should be many Jews missed what he was saying but the dirty pagans seemed to get it (well, some of them anyway). It is a profoundly humbling message to all of us today. WE do not tell God where to go, He shows us what he is doing and invites us to follow, if we continue to refuse we lose out on what he is doing.


By the Gospel of John (A.D. 90ish) there is a noticeable gap between the Jewish community and the increasingly Gentile community of The Way (by then they had adopted the name Christian which was actually an insult leveled at them by people in Antioch...they basically said "Look at all those people trying to be little Christs...Christians!" and our forebears thought that sounded pretty good so here we are). Paul has already written to the churches that God is in the business of adoption and so the Gentile people, while not part of God's original chosen people, have been adopted in and are as much in God's family as anyone. Sadly, once the Christian community received power under Constantine (4th Century) they used their power to punish those they blamed for killing Jesus and the Jewish/Christian rift has grown ever since.

That is a Loooooooong message and it still does not capture anywhere near all the implications of what the Gentile acceptance of God's message means...in fact, that is what most of the New Testament talks about....the alteration...completion....interesting turn taken by God's salvation history.

tonight...excited

so tonight should be pretty cool. we are going to gather for a meal...but not just any meal. a meal that is intentionally about getting to eat and worship as a group.

we are going to break bread in a manner similar to the way in which jesus used to...

pretty cool.

so, for those who read this ahead of time feel free to bring any contribution you want to the meal tonight...if not, that is cool too. there will be plenty for everyone!

check out a meal designed to feed both body and soul...tonight at immersion.