the friesen blog

So it's been a while since I've posted.  But since then I had a great weekend with my parents who came out from Victoria.  My dad and I re-wired the upstairs of our house.  Good Times!  It was actually some great father and son bonding over electrical equipment. 

A Confession 

In the last week I have had some pretty interesting experiences which have changed my heart and mind forever.  I hope to blog about them soon.  I will just say at this point that I have been blown away at the beauty and hope of church community.  My journey church community thus far has taken me from (and I HATE these labels but I will use them for now) "traditional" church to the "pomo / emerging" church back to a very progressive "traditional" church.  When I was emersed in the "pomo / emerging" church I was very skeptical of the depth of community that could exist in "traditional" churches.  I was so wrong.  I was young and idealistic.  I used to think that those 'old people' did not understand the new wave of what is going on.  I sinned when I had those thoughts.  For anyone that I might have judged.  I am sorry.  Please forgive me for thinking that I had it all together.  I did not.  I do not. 

I have tasted the increadible beauty of community when I was hanging in Seattle with my Quest friends.  But although we talked about diversity we were all fairly similar.  I have recently seen the increadible beauty of community in actual diversity and it is gorgeous.

Thanks to Leanne and my parents and grandparents for teaching me about community.

I would also like to thank some others who shared their life with me.

Dwight & Lynette, Pascal
Ken & Michelle, Shelby, Payton
The whole Reid clan
Ken
Trevor
Russ & Dinah
Nathan
Sam & Jackie
Andy
Peter
Bill
Heather and Carrie
Brian and Nat
Mike Moffat - not the character on Sienfield, although I guess him to...
Ian & Shar
Richard and Brendan - rock on my friends
UT - rock on 1984
Brendan Manning
Henri Nouwen
Jeff & Heather
The Freeway gang
Jamie & Melissa
my new MHBC friends
Amy and Steve

The list could continue for a long time.  I could keep on listing people since there are so many more.  Thanks for sharing yourself with me and helping make me the person I am today.

peace.

dallas

I was recently doing some research in the Canadian Baptist Archieves at McMaster Divinity College and I came upon these quotes from The Canadian Baptist.  Which decade do you think they came from?  1950s? 1970s? 1990s?

"This is a day when more is being said about evangelism, more is being written about evangelism and more evangelistic methods and techniques are being devised and set forth, than in any previous time.  Yet it is painful to note, that, the real and abiding fruits of evangelistic endeavor are few and insignificant." 

“What is needed now is a Martin Luther of the New Reformation to take these historic doctrines of the Christian faith, re-interpret and re-state them, and nail them to the door of the Christian Church for the whole twentieth century to read, believe and obey.  God speed the coming of a generation of preachers and evangelists who will proclaim the faith of our fathers in the language of our children.”

“We are betrayed by our ideals more often than we realize: family loyalties, patriotic and religious slogans, political and economic groupings.  We surround these ideals with sacred flags, banners and rituals and before we know it, we are nailing Christ to the cross and the ideals become His crown of thorns.  If our evangelism is to become effective we must begin to move into the realm of our holy ideologies and make clear that the name of Christ is above every name however patriotic and exalted.”

I love this last quote.  "We are betrayed by our ideals more often than we realize."

May this Lent be a season of soul-searching and reflection.  May you enter deeply into the reality of your condition as you prepare for the reality of the resurrection.

amen. 

Last Weekend, I and about a dozen friends went to the True City Conference in Hamilton.  True city is...

an emerging movement of Churches in the Hamilton area working together for the good of the City. 

Together we are exploring ways to facilitate shared learning, resource discovery, and collaborative projects so that our churches participate more fully and effectively in their neighbourhoods and in Hamilton as a whole.

I would like to thank the organizers for putting together a great conference.  I am very excited to see the city of Hamilton renewed. 

At the conference, I took part of the break out group that explored the using arts and creativity to bring healing and wholeness to people and the city.  There is a working group that meets throughout the year to talk, brainstorm and network on this theme.  If you are interested in learning more let me know.

peace.

My brother, Dwight J. Friesen wrote a great article called "Living Incarnationally." 

Apparently “missional” is the thing to be in Christian circles these days. But often, the more intentional our missional engagements are, the more we operate out of an “us vs. them” mentality. A theologian ruminates on living incarnationally in a missional world.

Here are some excerpts:

I have a growing concern that the proliferation of mission and missional language in many of our churches today may not do justice to the joy, mystery, and fullness of life that Christ invites us to share with the triune God.

Because of the subtle singularity communicated through missional language, a dualism is often reinforced. This dualism suggests that mission is important and everything else is less important. Church work is important; Web design is less important. Working in a homeless shelter is important; working at the Holiday Inn is less important. Working to save the rain forest is important; doing yard work at home is less important.

Incarnational living invites all Christ-followers to flesh out their uniqueness, encouraging the totality of their being to reflect or embody Christ. When people and their respective communities see their “being” as inevitably making the invisible Christ visible through their lives, then every interaction, every act, every moment of stillness becomes a Christ moment.

For the full article click here.