Tuesdays with Julian

Tuesdays with Morrie is a book about dieing. It is about a professor who faces a terminal disease as an opportunity to make the most of the rest of his life.

On Tuesdays at 8am Julian and I get together for coffee to study the book of Hebrews. Neither of us is dieing. This week we got to chapter two where it says that Jesus “suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everything.” “Wow,” I thought, “What the heck does that mean? It sounds powerful!” We figured it was about how Jesus died so that we could live. If this is Christ’s promise then why do we still fear death? Hebrews also says that because Christ has destroyed the power of death he has freed us, who used to be held slaves by the fear of death (2:14:15). I.e. we don't need to fear death.

Although Morrie is not a self professed Christian, he sure died like a Christian who has the type of hope in Jesus that Hebrews speak of. If we have been freed from the fear of death, why do we still fear death? I know that I still do! Julian and I got to talking. In Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie says we fear death because we’re not fulfilled in our life. We don’t have purpose. We don’t have our priorities straight. I think this is wise, something we can learn from.

But how would we explain the being fulfilled from a Christian perspective? Julian and I boiled it down to two things….although I’m sure there are more, better, ideas…ideas we could expose from Hebrews. But we thought, from our own experience, that as Christians we are fulfilled when we a) worship God and b) glorify God. We thought these two things are key. We like them because they could transcend a number of different circumstances. Someone who is suffering can worship and glorify God by asking for comfort, being held up by the grace of God. Someone who is cynical could be worshiping and glorifying God because they’re being honest with God. And whether you’re a lawyer, student, work at McDonalds or a garden center you can worship and glorify God in so many ways.

Are you ready to die? Are you ready to live?

Pastor Matt

Take a Seat

Luke 10:38-42 (New International Version)

'39She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said...(Jesus said) Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." (Check out the whole passage listed above)


For six summers, from about the time I was seventeen, I went to camp each summer. At camp we were taught about “quiet times” or “devotionals”. A quiet time is a period in the day when you go to be with God alone, either praying, reading, reflecting or being silent. I always struggled with quiet time. I am not a disciplined person by nature. Especially once camp was out having a quiet time during the school year was pretty much impossible for me. After a while I began to to feel pretty guilty about my lack of ability to take up this daily/weekly discipline. Because of my struggle I thought I was a lousy Christian. After a while, during University, I gave up on the idea of quiet times. Or, at least I gave up on caring up about them. This may sound funny but I think “giving up” was actually a good thing for me. Giving up meant that I was no longer strained and held down by my guilt from not being able to pull this devotional thing off. Giving up meant that when I actually found space in my life for this discipline I truly experienced it as a gift. As a youth pastor it would be good and well for me to encourage you to be disciplined, marking out time each day for God. However, beating yourself into submission so you do what you should doesn’t seem to be totally healthy. Yes, there is an arduous road to Christian discipleship that requires discipline and training, which is a good thing that we all need to put ourselves through at times. But today, let’s look to Mary’s example who sits at the feet of Jesus. It sure would be nice to have Jesus come by our house every day so we could hang out in person. I believe it is the absence of God’s physical presence which makes quiet times so difficult yet it is the goal of quiet times to realize that God is more present then we think. So what do we do? Find a place for you in your life that is like sitting at the feet of Jesus. I think the key to quiet times is understanding not only how God works but how we work. Sitting with Jesus was probably so natural for Mary because she just liked hanging out with Jesus. How do you hang out with Jesus best? Figure out what works for you. Here are some ideas: take a walk outside committing that time to God; lay on your bed for fifteen minutes before your sleep, thinking about God, your life and praying; do something you love or your homework focusing on God’s presence with you; read a great Christian book; go for “coffee” with Jesus by yourself. Anyhow, the key is to find something you would love doing with God. And yes, after a while it probably would be a good idea to work spiritual disciplines in there like praying for others and reading scripture. But first just learn to “take a seat” with Jesus. The cool thing about Jesus's resurrection is that he is there waiting for all of us before we even sit down.

Being Faithful

I wonder what it’s like to be a teenager these days. I hear so many things from so many sources about what you guys face in this day and age. Is it all true, or partially true or true for some of you…I look forward to finding out. One thing that does aggravate me, though, is how many people put pressure on you to, “change the world…make a difference…dream big…anything is possible…” and so on. Isn’t that such a huge burden? Can you really change the world? Are we called to change the world? I remember being a youth and getting starry-eyed over statements like this. “Yes, I can change the world. Yes, I can dream big and do anything I want!” But then the reality would kick in days, months and years later and I would be left disillusioned and discouraged. “Did I let God down? Did I fail as a Christian? Where do I go now?” While I don’t doubt that these messages are somewhat true, I would like to propose a new challenge for today’s generation: BE FAITHFUL. Lately I have been pondering the beauty of faithfulness. There is something elegant and simple in being faithful to God in the small things. Instead of trying to convert you’re whole high school how about you try and be faithful to God with your friends in the way you talk, act and live. Take a look at Hebrews chapters eleven and twelve. The author is talking about people of faith, in essence, people who were faithful to God. In the midst of facing our own sin and brokenness, trials and persecution, the author of Hebrews says this: “1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Living the Christian faith is like running a long, long, race. It takes regular practice, patience, endurance and above all…you guessed it, faithfulness. There will be days when you don’t feel like getting up for that morning practice or going for long runs but we are encouraged to look to Jesus who was above all was FAITHFUL to his Heavenly Father in his life, on the cross and in the mission he lived out on this planet. Being Faithful…are you up for it?