The Hands of Christ

Many of you who read my blog  (probably not that many) know that I am on the long and windy road towards ordination as a priest.  A priest, like all Christians is called to be an icon of Christ. The word icon in this sense means "like" or "representing" or "symbolic" of the said article. But the concept goes further. The icon leads us the reality of what it represents.I am called to stand for Christ and demonstrate his love, compassion and the reality of his ministry in the face of a broken and weary world, community, and family. I am to be Christ, and through the right action of Christian virtues I am transformed more and more into what Christ is. By the action of love I become what love is, by the action of compassion I am transformed more and more into the compassionate heart of Jesus.


One of the greatest working out of this calling is found in my work. I am a supportive care worker in a group home with 5 wonderful men with developmental disabilities. This line of work has been a godsend to me. I am in a position to love, serve, and trust others; bringing glory and dignity to humanity, the image of God in created mankind. I once had a conversation with someone about my work and expressed the challenges of recent budget cuts from the government to our program. This person seemed to think it was a necessary thing saying: "why should these people live a better life than those of us who work?" I was astonished at this attitude and found it disrupted my spirit. Something with this comment was fundamentally wrong. But before engaging in this line of work I too held this opinion. It is the opinion of a self serving culture where a persons worth comes from a twisted mutation of what was once called Protestant Work Ethic.The problem with this view is it takes the affliction of the leper and confuses it with consequence of the sluggard.


The scriptures tell us that "God is no respecter of persons". As Christians we believe that our worth comes not from what we accomplish in the arena of finance, power, or the acquisition of material goods. We believe that we are made in the image of God and he is reaching out to us, offering to share our sorrows that we may share in his kingdom.


As an icon of Christ I am standing in the gap, demonstrating Jesus, not as a poor substitute (though I am) but as a co-suffering co-labourer with Our Lord. The analogy that I like the best is that of an oxen. Jesus tells us: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

As we share in the work of Christ we are like oxen yoked together with our God, taking to the same work. When a farmer has a young ox that is inexperienced he pairs it with an experience ox that is fully developed and strong. The strong ox sets the pace and the younger weaker ox is left to keep up. The weak ox's striving to keep pace with the stronger is much like our co-labouring with Christ. We are paired with him, sharing in his good work. He has and continues to set the example, set the pace, and demonstrate his strength that we might grow into that strength. Through our work we are being fashioned into what he is, growing in our Christ-likeness, being changed from glory to glory.


Supportive care is not about administering medications, cooking meals, running errands, or providing personal care. It is about honouring the image of God that has been given to mankind, through love, service, and meekness of heart. I thank God for the experiences of placing others before me, serving them through times of great joy and personal crisis. Befriending those whom I am payed to serve. I don't do this because of the paycheque but because I have been given an example by my Lord as he has called me friend. He loves me as a friend, as one who is strong yet gentle and lowly in heart. In him and through my work with him I find rest for my soul and I hope to demonstrate this to those I am called to serve.

What is the Church?

Movements such as the great awakening and foreign missions societies began a grand tradition of interdenominational cooperation in North American. These populist and independent movements have shaped growth patterns and expectations of the modern church. Church growth and identity was really shaped by para church organizations in the later part of the 20th century. Everything from foreign aid through World Vision, evangelism through the Billy Graham Crusades, and family ministries such as Focus on the Family and Promise Keepers have greatly shaped the evangelical faith experience.

The challenge that is now posed to the Church on our continent is one of a crisis of identity. All of the above listed movements were done not as an extension but as a substitution of local and denominational church bodies. The absence of "The Organized Church" in the forefront of these bodies has led many to focus their interests elsewhere, namely the personal. The state of affairs for those 35 years and under is grim indeed. We have record amounts of professing Christians that do not regularly attend church because they fail to see the need to attend a local church. They believe in God, but the faith they have inherited has stripped the church of its position in their life and they feel less and less of an obligation to attend church for cultural reasons.

Many modern or post modern Christians feel they can satisfy their personal faith journey with television and radio resources, books, personal prayer and scripture reading or even nothing at all. This epidemic is consistent with the sharp fall in volunteerism in North America since WW2. Rotary, the Salvation Army,  various lodges, PTA's and local churches have fallen victim to this cultural change. The question is, can the church respond to this change and fill a void, and if so, how will it do this. One option is to further deconstruct and follow (pander) to the culture by telling it what it wants to hear, entertaining it with catchy pop choruses, or allowing the membership to shape the common life and worship (or lack their of) as an attempt to restore meaningfulness to the action of Church.

But, there is another way, a higher way. This way is one of a consistent ecclesiology with the ages of old. The view of the church as a consumer product where those who attend do so based on the quality or style of the preaching, music, or entertainment value must be rejected by it's leaders. The real challenge is to take a culture that has chosen their church (or lack there of) by this paradigm and ask far more than they have ever been asked. We need to replace the desire for style into an acceptance of substance. In the ever busy schedules of an overworked and tired generation, what does the church really offer other than another "thing" that has to be done.

"When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things." Mark 6:34


When we lower ourselves to the strata of a consumer product, we give people the option of accepting us to pure fancy. We ask nothing of the consumer other than to accept us or find another activity to consume their time and clutter their lives. By doing this we are stripped of our meaning, we have no inherent value: except what a depraved mind may decide to give it in a flurry of emotion.

The problem with putting our cup before the consumer and asking "it" to fill the cup is that we are stripping ourselves, and our faith in Christ of any value. Instead of saying, "Come, drink of this cup and receive forgiveness for the sins of the entire world", we say; Hey, I hope you enjoy the taste.

Our faith is not a consumer item which means it's value is not based on the free market. The value is inherent and eternal, any effort to diminish this through the innovation found in the consumer market place is to diminish the salvation offered to us by Christ. These modern innovations have turned shepherds into salesmen and elders into spin doctors.

The organized church has a mantle of leadership and responsibility in the life of the believer and the world at large.Instead of begging people to like our product, we need to demonstrate the humble authority given to us by our Savior and be what the church has always been called to be: the safe harbour of salvation, and a caring mother to it's children.

Jeff Wilson

Being Changed from Glory to Glory

Holiness is God's domain, one that he wishes to share with us. But what is holiness? Our life in Christ is all about it, the transformation of what we are into what we could be. Holiness is something to strive for, pursue, love, and cherish. It is to be our ultimate goal in the way we live and the ultimate guide to our interactions with others. Holiness however, is something that we can not attain in and of ourselves. We are powerless to achieve such a high and lofty attribute because it is not something we add to ourselves, it is something we become. It is a choice that is worked out on the anvil of fear and trembling. Holiness requires us to acknowledge that God is God, he is powerful, and there is authority beyond ourselves that we must fall subject to. It requires us to be open, honest, transparent, humbled, and free from pride. 

Being changed from glory to glory is the journey of joining God in his glory. It is easy to spot a holy person, look for one that is painfully aware of their own sin and shortcomings and who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. I know that I need more of these things in my life.