GOD CAME NEAR

I’ve recently been in a season of feeling somewhat distant from God. That’s not to say that God actually has been distant from me though, which is an entirely different thing.

 

Then The Meeting Place 20^th anniversary happened. The Meeting Place (TMP) was the church where I was mentored as a worship leader through my 20s and into my 30s. I spent 10+ years attending TMP and serving there as a musician and worship leader. So much of my spiritual journey happened in that place. I met my wife there, I was married there, I worked there, I served God there, I made mistakes there, I built life-long friendships there, I learned to love Jesus there…

 

I moved to Vernon about 6 years ago, and have been back to TMP to lead worship a handful of times, and it has been wonderful. But things change and you can’t relive the past – I’ve learned that, and I’m ok with that.

 

Something happened on Jan 30, 2011 at the 20^th anniversary of TMP. In the life of Jon Buller, God came near. But maybe what I really mean is Jon Buller came near to God. No, we weren’t re-living the past. But we did have the amazing opportunity to welcome back 2 of our teaching pastors, and the first lead pastor as well as past and present worship leaders. And I am sure that I was not the only one that experienced God’s nearness.

 

To describe what happened is difficult – I’m still trying to process all of the miraculous work that God did in us and among us that night. But I can say that I think the ultimate goal of the evening was to celebrate God’s story in that community – past, present and future. And that is what we did. As we did it, through teaching and music, sharing, dancing, story telling, praying… it seemed God began (or rather – continued) to work in that place.

 

I believe there was deep healing of hurts, and I know there was profound celebration on all kinds of levels. There was a ministry of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of many, and the theme of the night seemed perfectly named – MOMENTUM – because that’s what it felt like was happening in our midst. Hope and faith continued to grow, or for some was renewed and restored.

 

So, thank you Meeting Place for so many things, especially the richness of the faith in God that you gave me in that time of my life, which still continues today. And of course, thank you for the gift of participating in your twenty-year anniversary, where I could feel again that God comes near.

SABBATH REST

Recently I was at the pastors retreat for the Alliance churches of BC. We heard Mark Buchanan speak. He is the author of 'THE REST OF GOD' a great book I recommend to you.

Here is a diagnostic list for you that he shared with us. Mark shared that these kinds of lists can be a little dangerous but they can also be a good tool to ask yourself some questions about your own self-care. It is also not an exhaustive list - i.e. there may be items that you could add to make it more personalized for yourself or others.

So I encourage you - don't be too hard on yourself, but read this list, reflect and process it a little bit. I think we could all be encouraged to rest in God more... And by the way - Sabbath rest obviously does not have to happen on a Sunday! Find times for resting in God (tuning out all distractions - getting silent) at whatever time / place during the week you can!

You know you need sabbath rest when...

• your emotional response to a situation is disproportionate to the trigger of that response (your friend is 5 minutes late or your child spills their drink and it is as if the world is caving in)
• you are both restless and listless (want to do something but don't care enough about anything, so you remain unmoved)
• you have a growing resentment against ___________  (fill in the blank: work, spouse, kids, other drivers etc…)
• you complain a lot about ______, and obsess over it rather than changing it
• other people start their conversations with you by saying “I know you are busy, but…”
• your intimacy with God starts diminishing
• you feel entitled or “owed” something
• you being feeling sorry for yourself, undervalued or under-appreciated
• you fantasize more and more (escapism from real life)
• old temptations/anxieties re-awaken with increased intensity
• physical health issues begin to arise
• you stop caring about what you really care about

source - MARK BUCHANAN teaching at BC district Alliance church pastor's retreat

Friends - don't be overwhelmed by this. Just respond by carving out time to REST in God. Some quiet time, some reflection, some scripture, some prayer, some sleep! If there is absolutely no time in your life, just start small - 15 minutes, then fight for 20 minutes, then try and carve out 30 minutes or an hour.

May we all find a little bit more REST in God this week and every day.

THE ENEMY

My last blog was part 1 on serving God. Here is an interesting take on how our service of God, can actually become an enemy of God... again I am sharing from Oswald Chamber's insights.

Chambers says 'Beware of anything that competes with your loyalty to Jesus Christ. The greatest competitor of true devotion to Jesus is the service we do for Him. It is easier to serve than to pour out our lives completely for Him. The goal of the call of God is His satisfaction, not simply that we should do something for Him. We are not sent to do battle for God, but to be used by God in His battles. Are we more devoted to service than we are to Jesus Christ Himself?'

It is amazing how easily we fall into this trap - especially if you happen to work in ministry like me, but I am sure for everybody else too. I get to work, and the urgent things seem to right away outweigh the important things... and so I jump into my task list for the day, postponing my time with God until 'later', and 'later' never comes.

In talking with a friend this week he reminded me - when armies are at war, one of the first strategies of the opposing army is to cut off communications. If you can hit the communications centre, you have a huge advantage. This is all too true in the spiritual battle that we so quickly forget we are involved in. The enemy will strike at our communication time with our friends, spouses, families and most importantly with our God. When that happens, we become isolated and vulnerable to so many more levels of attack.

So, may I remind you (and me) today of the importance of not letting service of God, come at the expense of your relationship with God. It is out of that relationship and the time that you spend with the Source of LIfe that you will have life and energy to serve and love God and people.

THE OVERFLOW

Today I've got some thoughts on serving God that I thought I would share - much of my life has revolved around serving God through music. Here are some bigger picture thoughts I had after reading Oswald Chambers recently.

The apostle Paul as you may know was went by his Hebrew name of Saul when he was a persecutor of the church, before his conversion... In GALATIANS 1 in the Message, Paul says 'Even then God had designs on me. Why, when I was still in my mother's womb he chose and called me out of sheer generosity! Now he has intervened and revealed his Son to me so that I might joyfully tell [everyone] about him.  

Paul ended up falling in love with Jesus and it was out of that love that he was compelled to build and serve the Church.

Oswald Chambers says it this way - Service is the overflow which pours from a life filled with love and devotion. But strictly speaking, there is no call to that. Service is what I bring to the relationship and is the reflection of my identification with the nature of God. Service becomes a natural part of my life. God brings me into the proper relationship with Himself so that I can understand His call, and then I serve Him on my own out of a motivation of absolute love. Service to God is the deliberate love-gift of a nature that has heard the call of God. Service is an expression of my nature, and God’s call is an expression of His nature. Therefore, when I receive His nature and hear His call, His divine voice resounds throughout His nature and mine and the two become one in service. The Son of God reveals Himself in me, and out of devotion to Him service becomes my everyday way of life.

God bless you as you love and serve the Lord.

Christmas and EVERYTHING

I don't remember where I was when I first heard the Tim Hughes song EVERYTHING but I remember being instantly struck by the meaning of it for my own life. I imagine the same thing has happened with that song for many other people too. When I heard the verse, it kind of sung itself to me...

God in my living, God in my breathing 

God in my waking, God in my sleeping

And on it goes... resting, working, thinking, speaking 

Being that it's two days before Dec 25th, the day that we celebrate the birth of Christ, that song and its' lyrics make me reflect on my lifestyle, my faith, God in my everyday experience.

I think it's safe to say that most decent people in the world are inspired at least a little bit at this time of year by the 'spirit' of Christmas to live a bit better then we do most of the average days of the year. We try and step out of the daily grind, and make family and friends a priority. We give, we receive, we celebrate, we hope. We try to put away (at least for a time) conflicts or tensions so that we can celebrate together.

But what of the rest of our year? And what about so many of us who are deeply saddened at Christmas time? Because, as my pastor says, Christmas has a way of making the good things even better, and the hard things even harder... And then Tim Hughes' song comes back to me again...

God in my hoping, God in my dreaming 

God in my watching, God in my waiting 

God in laughing, there in my weeping 

God in my hurting, God in my healing

It's a big reason why I love this song, and why I knew instantly when I heard it that I would record it. This is a song for every day. Especially meaningful at Christmas, but it's a song for every day, for every person really, that wants to, or needs to, or can't think of anything else but to reach out to God.

It's a simple but profound chorus: Be my everything, be my everything, be my everything... (and in case you hadn't got the idea yet - one more), be my everything.

I don't know who will read this. But without knowing who you are, or what your journey is right now, I pray that you will be inspired to live this song out as prayer this season and every day from here on. I pray you will find hope in your relationships and in your faith - however small or large that faith may be for you. If you're celebrating, share your joy. If you're struggling, hang on to hope - don't let go. And I pray that we will share the inspiration of Christmas together by experiencing 'God with us', Jesus, Emmanuel. This Christmas and every day. May He increasingly become your Everything.

Who says you can’t go home?

A few weeks ago I returned to my hometown of Winnipeg to play some music for folks. It was wonderful to be back and see old friends, and also meet some new ones. So, first off, a quick thanks is in order to everyone really – it meant so much to me be received the way I was. The welcome felt great!

From media appearances at CHVN and Trinity TV, to performances at the Bridge Alliance church, Winnipeg Mennonite Elementary School, Calvary Temple and the Meeting Place, and an in-store appearance at the Light Christian Bookstore, it was a whirlwind trip really but it was great to meet new friends and catch up with others. Y’all know who you are!

What kept coming to mind was how much I miss the big sky. I sure love where I live now, in Vernon BC in the Okanagan Valley. But there is nothing – really nothing, like that big, never-ending prairie sky. I love the prairies. I miss the prairies. And what I miss even more than the prairie skies are the people – and that’s what coming home reminded me of.

You see, where I live now is also a beautiful place. But what has made it my new home is the people… New friends and community that I have come to love and serve, and who have come around my family and I. And people are also why I can still say ‘I’m going home’, when I’m traveling back to Winnipeg for whatever reason. Warning – shameless plug coming here… And people are why I’m excited to come back to Winnipeg on September 11 to my favorite venue in Canada – the Walker theatre (aka the Burt) for a worship concert and CD release of LIGHT UP THE SKY… come on out people!

I’ll forever be grateful to you Winnipeg, and Southern Manitoba of course. Family, friends, supporters of my ministry – you have shaped and formed me, my music and my ministry. See you again soon!

Story Behind the Song - MEET ME IN THE RIVER

Meet Me in the River came about over morning coffee and a songwriting session with my friend Larry Campbell after about a year of having the hook 'Meet me in the river and I'll wash your sins away' percolating in my mind. To be honest that hook was driving me a bit crazy - knowing that there was a song to be borne somehow, someday, and it would just repeat over and over and over...

So, almost just to get the hook out of my mind, I invited Larry over and said, hey let's try and write this song - so I can move on. Ha! My idea was to have 3 verses, each with an individual inviting people to come to the river to be baptized. Verse one, a pastor. Verse two, John the baptist. Verse three, Jesus. Some songs come with painstaking crafting and re-crafting of lyrics and melodies, chords and progressions. Not so with Meet Me. 2 pots of coffee, loads of laughs and even a few extra verses that never made it to 'press'. We finished the song in about 2 hours. It was a total gift from our Creator - allowing us to be creative writing a song.

Since then, the song has taken on a life of it's own. I recently heard that it is a regular part of the repertoire at a camp in California that I have never been to. How it got there, I don't know - but I'm glad that I had the opportunity to write it with Larry and take it from our hearts and minds and offer it to people. Hopefully to join with other songs and bring some more joy and truth into the world.

And that's the long story short!