Neighbourhood Life

So how do you like living in your neighbourhood? Better still, if you have lived there long enough, have you ever wondered what the neighbours think of you? Usually how we see ourselves and how others see us can be worlds apart. I hope my neighbours like me, because I like them...at least most them anyway.

As the Cambridge Vineyard, we live in the Alison street neighbourhood. And believe it or not, the folks that live around here have opinions about their neighbourhood. I found that out when I was handed the results of a survey taken by the Social Planning Council of Cambridge and North Dumfries. Here are some of the things our neighbours had to say:
- it's a good place to live
- good place to raise children
- safe

Some things they really liked
- mosque
- sense of community
- quiet
- school

Some of the things they least like
- using the tunnel
- dirty
- bullying
- theft and vandalism
- lack of interaction with neighbours

How they like to be communicated with
Favourite way - word of mouth, followed by newspaper, newsletters, posters, flyers, church bulletins...

Things they see as assets in their community "the park, mosque, Alison Community Centre, the Vineyard Church, St. Anne's School."

Some things they would like to see:
- an English language learning centre
- increase safety by the tunnel
- foot paths
- more open space for kids to cycle and play
- clean up the scary night life
- someone from the community who can speak the same language as the women who cannot speak English well
- a program to link new Canadians with their surroundings and new neighbours
- a community centre that is more accessible to all age groups


I love John's words in describing the essence of Jesus' mission - The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. (John 1:14) So simple...

God's Left Hand

Last week I was reflecting in Psalm 118. There are some heart piercing verses there like:
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; His love endures forever.
or "In my anguish I cried tio the Lord, and he answered by setting me free." or 'The Lord
is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man to to me? The Lord is my helpr." or
'I was pushed back and about to fall, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength
and my song; he has become my savation."

Then my eyes lighted on "The Lord's right hand has done mighty things!
The Lord's right hand is lifted high; the Lord's right had has done mighty things!"

I pondered then asked the Lord, "So what do you do with your left hand?", and I
though I heard Him say, "That's the hand I hold you with."


Jacqui P

Finding Jesus

I am reading Jean Vanier, a guy who has devoted his life to finding Jesus in the poor**. Here is a quote that I think applies to us all at CV, since we are pursuing the mission of Jesus as described in Isa. 61.

"...God chose the weak and the despised in order to accomplish his work of love. The world seeks human and technical knowledge; God wants the heart and love. So he chooses the little ones in order to confound the clever. That is the folly of the Gospels and of God, whose ways are often just the opposite to the ways of culture and reason. Our world is a world of scientific discoveries, materialism, search for money, power and independence; it is also a world of confusion, oppression, tyranny, apartheid, a breakdown of values and the rejection of God. L'Arche and Faith and Light*, (and Cambridge Vineyard) as small as they are, have a message for the world and good news for the poor** and for those who are close to them: God loves them and watches over them. "God has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the humble and the lowly."
In a world that constantly urges people to climb the ladder of human promotion, the Holy Spirit is teaching us to go down the ladder in order to find light in the hearts of the poor**. That seems crazy and even impossible. It is a secret Jesus has entrusted to us...and to many others in our world today. However, in order to live this secret folly, each one of us needs to grow in the love of God. In order to discover Jesus in the heart of the poor** and to be faithful in living with them, our hearts must grow in Jesus. To become a faithful friend of the poor** we must become a faithful friend of Jesus."

"Are there not two dangers that confront all followers of Jesus: either to be too distant from the poor**, too closed up in our own spiritual life, or else to be too distant from a union of love with Jesus and his Father because of too much involovement in social matters? Is this not the challenge of L'Arche*: to try to find a harmony beteween an intimate union with Jesus, an interior life in the Holy Spirit, and at the same time a loving presence to and with the poor**? We need to ask Jesus and his Holy Spirit to give us the grace to live this unity."

"Each one of us is called in an urgent way to become a man or woman of peace and reconciliation wherever we may be. We are called to open our hearts and minds to people who are different from us and who disturb us - to let the Holy Spirit come in to our beings and take away our fear of others, so that we may become less intimidated in welcoming others and listening to them."

After a visit to a large institution in Romania filled with handicapped children Jean writes...
"As I went from room to room and from bed to bed in that insitution, seeing all the little faces that were looking at me with such a thirst for love, I felt almost physically ill. It was too much. But how to help these people in Romania discover that all these little faces are faces of prophets who are calling us to tenderness and to love, that these faces in search of love are revealing the deepest thirst in the heart of all human beings, that the anwer to war is to welcome one of these little ones in the name of Jesus?"

"God is hidden in the weak and in the poor**, and as we enter into communion with them, we enter into communion with Jesus and the Father."

"There is a tendency everywhere today to want a victorious religion, a successful Jesus, as proof of our goodness and our truth. We forget the true Jesus who was persecuted, abandoned, lonely, who suffered agony, wept and was crucified. We forget that Jesus continues to live today in those who are persecuted, abandoned, lonely, crucified, in agony and in those who weep. They are waiting for friends who will be with them, who will accompany them on this journey of life and whose presence will transform the pain of loneliness into the joy of communion."

*(organizations which work to build relationships and commununities with the intellectually disabled and their parents)

**From dictionary.com
poor 
–adjective 1. having little or no money, goods, or other means of support
2. dependent upon charity or public support.
3. meagerly supplied or endowed with resources or funds.
4. characterized by or showing poverty.
5. deficient or lacking in something specified
6. faulty or inferior, as in construction
7. deficient in desirable ingredients, qualities, or the like
8. excessively lean or emaciated
9. of an inferior, inadequate, or unsatisfactory kind
10. lacking in skill, ability, or training
11. deficient in moral excellence:cowardly, abject, or mean.
12. scanty, meager, or paltry in amount or number
13. humble; modest
14. unfortunate; hapless

Synonyms:
needy, indigent, necessitous, straitened, destitute, penniless, poverty-stricken. meager.unsatisfactory, shabby. sterile, barren, unfruitful, unproductive. thin, skinny, meager, gaunt. miserable, unhappy, pitiable.

Summer Childrens schedule

Afterthought- A Question about Fasting

Matt 9. 14-17

So there are a few things that seem to be a fact of life....

1. is that people get old-Now don't get me wrong, I am the first to admit my lack of youthful gusto. But it seems to me that...something that defines adulthood is- stability By the time you have kids you have become who you are..change is harder. I notice that people in their 50’s don’t often like new things…they can teach others, and lead them into new things, but their preference would be to stay the same. That means to bring in young people into leadership, what we often do is tell them inadvertanly, 'well you gotta fit into our thing.'

This message today for all us oldies might seem hard. But I think the awesome thing that I see is that the motivation of the kingdom is to pursue new containers, not get rid of old ones. Old wine needs its container too. (I love that there are churches that play organ music. It affirms that even when I get old there will be a place for me)....but in seeing so many old churches full of resources and no people it makes me wonder.....how can we grow old better?

I think Jesus' words to us are....

Find a new container for the New wine.
A great example of this might be Tim Kellers mega church in the states. He has decided to retire and realizing there is no one to take his place he has said, you know what we are going to do is....CHANGE. We are going to find 4 young pastors and plant 4 new churches. You can choose where you want to go, but this thing is going to end.
This approach:
doesnt sacrifice a new piece of cloth (a young preacher) on a old cloth
it allows people to reevaluate and contextualize what God is doing now in 4 new and unique ways, and provides the stretch the new thing will need to contain the new wine.


how do you see this passage?

Strangers in Black

A couple months ago I preached a sermon about how strangers are a gift of the Holy Spirit to us. God uses us to bring the kingdom to them and them to us. Far from being able to just walk by and ignore them-the people we bump into can profoundly impact our life. This should just be an expected occurence for Christians.

Tom Vogel, our resident story teller, here recounts an experience of his as an infant encountering the men in black.

Summer Preaching Schedule

people have been asking....here it is..

WHAT IS burning on your heart to share with the church?

July 5 - Scott
July 12 - Cyndi
July 19 - Kim
July 26 - Rob
Aug 2 - Outdoor Service W. Galt
Aug 9 - Chris Land
Aug 16 - Rob
Aug 23 - Jason Baskerville
Aug 30 - Scott

The Candle of Devotion

When I was at university this past year, I had the privilege of being inspired, taught and guided under the wing of Dan Wilt M.Min, an honourable child of God, who teaches through the abundance of his experiences as an International Worship/ Creative leader. It was definitely one of the better years of my life.

Something Dan would do at the beginning of every class we had with him was light a candle and recite a phrase, "Lord, as I light this candle we recognize that You are completely devoted to us and we say in response that we are completely devoted to You." We would then follow with a prayer and sometimes worship and then go on with the teaching time. I really enjoyed this action and I began doing it on my own. When I got up in the morning or before I started writing a paper, and also at the beginning of my quiet times. I found it helped to centre me, bring my thoughts to One focus; a stillness before my Maker.

When I came home for the summer and began leading worship for our youth again, I had a sense to include this symbolic action at the beginning of our worship time. In doing this I noticed a great calm that would wash over the kids. I haven't had to fight for their attention as much to begin the worship and one of them usually asks if they can light the candle. It seems it has given them something to focus on and opens a space for them to worship Jesus.

Below I have included a link to a YouTube clip of Dan explaining in more detail why this simple action can be useful in our personal times of daily devotion. He'll explain it much better than I ever could. It's about 6mins and worth a watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7MF9OWJRNo

Hostess'

Fresh faces!

One more thing to look forward to this summer as part of our services, other than Chris Land, Kim Maxwell, and Jason Baskerville preaching is.....Genevieve and Stephanie Wahl Hosting the services. This is a great opportunity for some public speaking. It is also a great opportunity for us to include some new faces- (we're glad they agreed to it!). If you like it be sure to cheer each Sunday for them.

Cheers

Mining Wisdom

I admire leaders who are full of integrity and godly wisdom. Either listening to them or reading their words is like drinking a hot cup of dark roasted coffee - you savor every mouthful!

Fred Smith Sr. is a man who loved Jesus, was full of wisdom, and was a brilliant leader. Although I've never met him, I feel like I know him quite well. The other day I read something by him that was so rich, that I need to share it with you. It's entitled:
Fundamental People Principles

Here are three simple things that I have learned about people.

First, I have learned that I waste time in trying to correct other people's mistakes. I should use the time to utilize their strengths and buttress their weaknesses. A lot of training programs I have seen are geared to overcoming weaknesses - what a waste of time!

Second, I have learned that you can't change anybody else. Each person has to change himself or herself - you can't do it for them. You can set up pressures or you can be there to encourage, but the action can't be taken for another. You might even create fear that will cause a temporary change but nothing permanent. We spend an awful lot of time putting temporary situations in place, thinking that we have changed a person, but in the end it is only a short-term fix.

Third, I have learned that people are the way they are because they want to be that way. I haven't always believed this. In fact, when I started out in life, I wanted to be a social worker and I became extremely disillusioned with people. Now I am totally convinced that each of us is the way we are because we want to be that way. We rationalize and give all kinds of reasons that it's not true, but bottom line: You are choosing to be who you are.

When you have an opportunity to change and you don't take it, you are deciding to stay where you are. And of course, when you grow through personal challenges, you are becoming who you want to be. People who want to change make a plan. Too often lack of a plan is an easy way to rationalize the unwillingness to make changes.

Now that's rich! Here are 3 questions from Fred that you can ponder:

1. How am I choosing to stay stuck in life?
2. What is the best choice that I have made in the last six months?
3. Who is my mentor, or coach?

What's Your Piece?

In Elder's Team meetings lately we have been discussing the biblical, historical and present role of elders in our church. The subject came up for a couple of reasons, one being when we add new elders to our mix they naturally want to know what it is they need to be doing. The other reason is, as with any job, when the expectations are high and the instructions are vague, much stress and burnout may result. Our expectations are high not because we serve a demanding bunch, but because we want to see the kingdom come and the gospel lived. And because we always want to see more. So in order to better serve as elders and to stay healthy as individuals, we are discussing, praying about and contemplating our role.

There are some things that are very clear to us. We want to be a church that is about all of us living the gospel, not a church where the leaders do everything and the people come to watch. When people come and join us we want them to participate with us and to be a disciple of Jesus. I think of it sometimes as though CV is a big picture, and each of us are a part of it, like in a puzzle. Together as we serve Jesus the whole picture becomes visible. I personally like this idea, since I often tend to look at my piece all on its own, and think that it doesn't look like much of anything. But of course, when you put a puzzle together you know that each piece on its own shows pretty much nothing at all of the whole picture!

So what piece of the picture am I? What piece are you? This month we had elder homework. We are each contemplating some personal questions to help us zero in a bit more and better identify our roles, or our own piece of the puzzle.

Since CV is the sum of its members, I thought I would put the questions up here, re-written to be applicable to all of us - they are great 'food for thought'!

What questions do you have about being a part of CV (Cambridge Vineyard)?

Why are you a part of CV?

Do you feel you have a specific role in the team?

How does your role fit with the other members of CV?

Finish the sentence: I am a disciple of Jesus to _____

If you are in a small group this might make an interesting discussion. And of course you can also comment on here if you wish, or talk to any of us in person.

Shelley Maw

P.S. Something to think about: Allowing others to witness your life as you learn and love and struggle and hurt and serve and give and receive...this is being a witness to Jesus.

Insect Questions - Here!!

K. so every once in a while I get asked insect questions.....your garden variety usually. I love to answer them, so if you have one...by all means send it to me. It is just one way i justify all the money and 4 years spent on an agriculture degree.

BUT....here is the answer to a riddle that Bruce had for me while he was weeding the gardens at the church- thanks Bruce!! It seems the canna lilies and the roses at the church were being eaten....but by what? We found these little wonders on the roses eating small holes.

It is called the Japanese Beetle.

Popillia japonica

The beetle species Popillia japonica is commonly known as the Japanese beetle. It is about 1.5 cm (0.6 inches) long and 1 cm (0.4 inches) wide, with iridescent copper-colored elytra and green thorax and head. It is not very destructive in Japan, where it is controlled by natural enemies, but in America it is a serious pest of about 200 species of plants, including rose bushes, grapes, [hops], canna, crape myrtles, and other plants.

SO BRUCE....I got bad news. Planting Canna, and roses together means.....hungry, hungry, Japanese Beetles....

BUT.

There may be good news.

During the larval stage, the Japanese beetle lives in lawns and other grasslands, where it eats the roots of grass. During that stage, it is susceptible to a fatal disease called milky spore disease, This may mean nothing....but at least it is something.

BUT wait there is more.....

Natural repellents include catnip, chives, garlic, and tansy[3], as well as the remains of dead beetles. Additionally, when present in small numbers, the beetles may be manually controlled using a soap-water spray mixture.

other good news....

There is only one generation per year. Adults emerge from the soil in late June through mid-July, feeding actively in sunny locations for 30-45 days

For further information....

check out omafra which has info on almost every insect found in Canada

now you know.

Macintosh Musing

It was a beautiful day, a perfect day to work outside. I was standing under what appeared to be an apple tree, though before that day I had not realized the existence of it's fruit bearing abilities -- a strand of Macintosh at that. It had been a couple of weeks since Rob had announced to me that we were going to prune the apple trees on the property. "Apple trees," I had exclaimed, unknowing that we even had one. We have four! Four (decent kinds of apple) trees in the backyard of the Cambridge Vineyard. One more new discovery since I've started working here six weeks ago.

So, there I was standing under the first chosen tree to prune, apparently a first experience for both us. Rob was already fully immersed in chopping off limbs and branches at the top of the tree when I walked over. I had a memory flash of an apple orchard and thought out loud, "Aren't apple trees supposed to be fairly sparse in branches?" Rob grinned and chuckled as he jumped out of the tree and answered me, "Yep. Apple trees are generally sparse -- we've got a lot of cutting to do," and he handed me the clippers.

For the trees to bear good fruit they need partial sun and partial shade, so the branches need to be spaced in a way that allows the sun to shine through, yet at the same time provides some coverage from too much heat. This is why typically the structure of an apple tree is shaped like a pyramid/triangle. The tree we were standing under was shaped like a big sphere. It took me a little while to figure out "what branches would get to live or die," as Rob so eloquently put it. At first I was timid and thought I was going to screw up the tree if I cut the wrong branch, but after my first few cuts I started seeing and understanding the process a bit more. As I looked up from the ground and surveyed the direction the branches were growing in, I was able to recognize what branches were good and what one's were deterring healthy growth.

"This is why we can be thankful that Jesus is gentle and only prunes us a little bit at a time." Rob's one sentence sermon ended as he finished sawing through a large branch with a 3.5-4" diameter. I should say it was more like the top of a limb he was cutting off. It was full of leaves and looked healthy, it had many smaller branches sprouting from its thick trunk. The limb fell to the ground with a thud. The leaves rustled and shook from the impact, then rested peacefully. "Yea, it's a good thing Jesus is gentle," I thought as I witnessed what looked like harsh treatment of a perfectly fine living structure, "..because the chopping off of a limb that size on my own body would really hurt."

I think it's hard for us to recognize pruning because all it really feels like is suffering. We may have a branch that is bearing good fruit of love and joy, but because of the great abundance of goodness there begins to sprout a lot of branches. So many, in fact that the weight of the branches become overbearing and because of the coverage, the limb begins to die from lack of warm sunlight. This may look like weariness, bitterness, resentment or frustration. This is a good branch that the Father needs to prune. Pruning may be Jesus asking you to step back from leadership for a while, or it may be needing to ask your son or daughter to choose only one sport per season. It may be making the decision to commit to only two nights out a week and the other three you stay home or it may be resolving some conflict between you and someone. Whatever it is, it is usually uncomfortable, hard and possibly hurts a little bit depending on the situation.

Well, I have now turned Rob's one sentence sermon into a six paragraph thought. I'm going to bring it to a close by saying, I'm really glad that I have Jesus to stand under me, look up and see the branches that are deterring good fruit from growing. And I'm really glad that He doesn't just walk away and leave me to grow into something that the Father did not create me to be. He only asks me to trust and obey.

Over-growth and bad fruit is self produced.

Is this What you Expected?

By Matte Downey, Montreal Vineyard.

I was reading Luke 7 this week and the question that John the baptist asks jumped out of the page at me. He was in prison and sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus, "Are you the One we've been expecting, or are we still waiting?" Despite John's extensive preparation work for the long-awaited messiah, he still wasn't sure that what Jesus was bringing was what he had been expecting. Sometimes this life of following Jesus is not what I expected, either. I'm with you, John.

read more...click on this link. Trust me, it's worth the read!
Shelley

http://outword.blogspot.com/2009/06/is-this-what-you-expected.html