All posts by knoxalliston

April 24th, 2022

April 24, 2022Uncategorizedknoxalliston

Come to Life

John 20: 31 “But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”

The study of history is really the study of the stories of our past. We can approach those stories with the five classic ‘W’ questions: who, what, where, when, and why. For Christians, the Bible is like a library of books that attempt to answer those questions in relation to God and faith. We become eyewitnesses to the events of God’s people that have been remembered and recorded, including the resurrection of Jesus.

The Bible tells us that the accounts of the Easter story are important because they lead to belief which leads to life. And not just any life, but life in Jesus’ name. So, what does that kind of life look like? We can read some of the verbs or action words in the stories of Jesus found in the Bible to determine what life in Jesus Christ is all about. Seeing, healing, forgiving, eating, following, praying, believing. These may seem like ordinary, everyday actions, but when done with belief in Jesus, we come to life in his name.

Easter Sunday 2022

April 17, 2022Uncategorizedknoxalliston

Easter Sunday: A Good Enough Faith

“Blessed are you who are growing, you who burst with new life. You who are learning to abide in the vine, and who taste the sweetness of God’s loving-kindness. The God who was there all along—planting, waiting, watering, pruning, delighting.” (From Good Enough by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie)

Spring is a season of faith. Every year, we have faith that the dormant earth will bring forth new life. Every year, we have faith that the seemingly dead seeds we plant, will grow. Every year, Christians around the world celebrate with faith, the story of Easter. After his death on the cross, the faith of Jesus’ followers was tested, and it seemed all hope was gone. It may have felt like they had just begun a long dark winter, but then, the impossible and unbelievable happened, Jesus lived. Just like a seed that sprouts from the cold earth, Jesus rose from death to life.

On the first Easter morning, God created a new reality by overthrowing death and sin. When Jesus was resurrected, God declared, once and for all, that life is more powerful and love more enduring than death. To believe in God’s new reality, we need faith enough to turn our certainties upside down, embrace new possibilities, and say with conviction “Christ is risen, he is risen indeed”.

Good Friday 2022

April 15, 2022Uncategorizedknoxalliston

Palm Sunday 2022

April 10, 2022Uncategorizedknoxalliston

Good Enough: We are a group project.

“Blessed are we, opening our hands in readiness to risk intimacy, to receive the gift of friendship and give it in return.” (From Good Enough by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie)

We’ve heard it said that no one is an island, meaning human beings are interconnected and dependent on each other. We are meant to be in families, in friendships, and in communities. We are meant to rely on and support one another. We are meant to come together in the joys and challenges of life.

In the week before his death, Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on a donkey to the shouts of ‘Hosanna’. The people lined the road, waving palm branches and praising God for what they had seen Jesus do. The stories of Jesus are always about people, people looking for justice, hope, connection, and love. Jesus modeled a life that brought people together and showed them that individual and community life was so much better when they supported and cared for each other.

April 3rd, 2022

April 3, 2022Uncategorizedknoxalliston

Good Enough: We are Fragile

“Blessed are you who are attempting to love what is here, what is now.” (From Good Enough by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie)

Sometimes it is easier to look fondly at the past and look eagerly towards the future, instead of appreciating, accepting, and loving what is right in front of us now. It takes a certain vulnerability to face the reality of life in the moment, the beauty and the pain. We have been reminded during the pandemic how fragile life can be and how important it is for us to connect with each other.

In the Bible, a woman broke a jar of expensive oil meant for Jesus’ burial over his feet. It was a bit of a shocking thing to do. When one of his followers became upset, Jesus told them all that he would not always be with them. It was a reminder of what was to come for him, but also a reminder of how important it is to appreciate life in the present. In this season of Lent, let us live in the moment and embrace all of life, the good and bad.

March 27th, 2022

March 27, 2022Uncategorizedknoxalliston

Good Enough: Being Less than Perfect is Not Fatal

“Blessed are you who do not despise your realness. It may hurt. But this is what we hoped for, right? To live and love. To be loved.” (From Good Enough by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie)

The idea of being good enough, or just doing our best, is not necessarily an invitation for under-achieving or giving up. Instead, being good enough means letting ourselves off the hook when we make mistakes and giving ourselves a chance to start over or even try something new.

The story of the Prodigal Son in the Bible is well-known. After, making some unwise choices and mistakes, a young man decided to go home again. Believing that what he had done was unforgivable, he never expected the joyful welcome he received from his father. Often, we are our own worst critics and have a hard time forgiving ourselves for the mistakes we’ve made. The reality is that we are not perfect, and trying to be, is exhausting. Even when we can’t seem to be kind and forgiving to ourselves, God is there, offering a welcome with mercy and grace.

 

March 20th, 2022

March 20, 2022Uncategorizedknoxalliston

 

Good Enough: Lots of things can be medicine

“Blessed are you who live with courage, fixing what it is in your reach, praying about what is not, and loving, still.” (From Good Enough by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie)

Who doesn’t want a quick fix for something that is broken? A magic pill to cure an illness, heal a strained relationship, repair a flawed system, or end a tragic war. Often, we like to offer our simple solutions to complicated problems, but of course, there is almost never an easy or quick fix.

On the third Sunday of Lent, we will explore a story Jesus told about a fig tree that was not producing any fruit and needed careful tending to be healthy again. It was not so much a story about agriculture but about the time and care it takes to fix what is broken. It is about God being a God of second chances and Jesus as a gardener who sees the beauty of a tree that appears to be all but dead. It is a story that teaches us to be open to new ways of thinking about what we need to be healthy and how we can help each other and our world to solve complicated problems.

 

March 13th, 2022

March 13, 2022Uncategorizedknoxalliston

Good Enough: So much is out of our control

“Blessed are we who discover we are loved and held in arms that are strong enough to hold that which we cannot.” (From Good Enough by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie)

One of the tactics we use to be good enough (smart enough, rich enough, healthy enough, etc…) is to have as much control as possible. It is natural for us to want to influence and manage all aspects of our lives, but the reality is that so much is out or our control. We can’t really control other people: their feelings, their actions, their choices. We can’t really control the weather: if it snows, if it is -20C, if spring is very slow in arriving. The last two years of the pandemic have really made us realize how much is beyond our control.

As humans we are uncomfortable with chaos, with pain, with things not going the way we want. In the end, we can only do what we can actually do and accept what we cannot do, and know that it is good enough and that we are never alone. On the second Sunday of Lent, we turn to Jesus who understood the fear and frustration of the uncontrollable. As well, we consider our constant desire for control and it’s impact on our spiritual, mental, and physical well-being as we lean on the strength of God to carry us through times of uncertainty.

March 6th, 2022

March 6, 2022Uncategorizedknoxalliston

Good Enough: Ordinary lives can be holy

“Blessed are you who need a gentle reminder that even now, even today, God is here, and somehow, that is good enough.” (From Good Enough by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie)

This week begins the season of Lent, the 40 days in the Christian year leading up to the celebration of Easter. It is a time of reflection, remembrance, and thanksgiving for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Sometimes people give up something like chocolate or social media for Lent and sometimes people add a spiritual practice like prayer or service to others.

We live in a world where the pressure to be the best at something or have the most of something is strong. There is nothing wrong with striving to be our best, yet the stress of never being able to measure up makes life difficult. What if perfection is actually what is perfectly suited to each one of us? What if the ordinary can point us to the divine? What if we agree that sometimes just being good enough is enough? On the first Sunday of Lent, we are going to explore the idea of being good enough and recognizing what is holy in the ordinary.

February 27th, 2022

February 26, 2022Uncategorizedknoxalliston

If Only…What If

Luke 6: 27-28 “But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

If only I could win the lottery… If only the Leafs could win the Stanley Cup… If only people could just get along… If only things could get back to normal… “If only” is what we say when we wish that something unlikely or even impossible will happen. However, “if only” can also be a spark to imagining a better world and the first step in making it a reality, when we change it to “what if”. “What if” creates an opportunity for the impossible to become possible.

In the Bible, Jesus said some stunning things like love your enemies, turn the other cheek, and give without expecting anything in return. “If only” might be our first response to those words, but what if things could be the way Jesus said? What if seeing the humanity of our enemies leads to empathy instead of hatred? What if reconciliation is a better path then retaliation? What if being generous is far more effective than keeping score? When we turn our “if only” into “what if”, our wishes may just become realities.