New Year Thoughts...

I love home. I love my parents, and my siblings are hilarious. But home is no longer home in the sense that it used to be. Over the past 6 years or something I haven't lived at home during the summer because of corn detassling or working at camp. As a result, my attachment to home (not the people of home) has been gradually decreasing. I have never been outside of Canada (with the exception of going as far as Detroit) and so I have been slowly growing in the notion to 'just get out of here' - getting away from home. I want to go to many places, and at the same time, I have been desiring to find what God's will is for my life. Lately it seems like those two have been teaming up, and I feel that I am learning what God's will is for my life. Although I don't have any association with emotionalism, I feel that I need to get outside of this context and live in another context. It's true that living on campus in residence at school is a very different context than at home, and I absolutely love school. I'm even learning to actually like my classes, and am especially excited for the ones I have this semester (Greek 202, Philosophy, A Contemporary Religious Situation, Adolescent Psychology, and Reformation Theology).

For those of you who don't know, I plan on going into Youth Ministry. It's incorrect to assume that I'm going to be a Youth Pastor and even go into Seminary. Obviously I'll see what God has in store, but for now I really feel the desire to be a missionary. Yes, I did say that I'm going into Youth Ministry, but I want to be a missionary somewhere around the world. It may be across a geographical border in rural Africa, it may be to somewhere in New Zealand, or it may be in Toronto, right in the middle of the city centre. I am completely aware of the Urban mission (thanks to Foundations of Missions) but also the great influx of Christianity in Africa. But most of all, I feel that wherever I do that, I need to work with Youth. Many of you know that I've worked at camp for a few years. But in that setting, I get the idea that the only people that are able to be immersed within the Christian faith are the older teens. It seems that...if the younger campers are taught about the love of Christ, you might face certain troubles that are grounds for maybe harassment or something. The truth is, there is way too much toleration that I've seen in the church as a whole...

There's a radio commercial that I've heard in my hometown, consisting of a dialogue between one fellow that advocates pluralism and toleration and another guy that completely disagrees with mr. Tolerance. The tolerant man says something about the 10 commandments...apparently they're the Seven Suggestions...I mean, come on! The "Seven Suggestions" which are is a great example of what Christians are believing. Not necessarily in those exact terms, but because of pluralism and post-modernity and all that stuff, we're seeing a lot of things happening in the Christian faith that should not be happening. Part of the epidemic is a generation of 'Yes' people - those that don't know how to say no and stand up for what they believe. This allows for things to rise up that otherwise would not rise up.

The church is caught up with the economy (and people say there has been a separation of church and state), and so decisions are often made based upon the amount of monetary funds that are available. Furthermore, the church has been inflicted with another disease: being nice. It certainly ties in with the 'Yes' epidemic, and has led to the acceptance of several waves of doctrine and especially the dismissal of necessary theology. The epidemic of being nice is basically the lamb look-alike cloak for the tolerant wolf. A similar term is 'political correctness'. The ultimate goal is to do what you want, how you want, as long as you include God in it once in a while! There was an article that I read a while ago called "Nice is Not the Point" and it talks about how Jesus loved. He wasn't nice, not nice at all. We need to stop being nice. We need to dust off the books and start studying theology. I suppose this is an initial response to Dr. Haas' Reformation Theology class. But it's also something that I've been feeling for a while.

There's another thing I want to mention. Mind you, I have no background in economics whatsoever, and you should know that. I shared with someone a few weeks ago of something that I think is going to happen. I've often heard (and likely many others have heard) that North America is in the dumps spiritually, and it craves for something bigger than it could ever be. This is the base of revolution within the Church. Obviously it's not my own idea that there is going to be a revolution, and that it's going to happen with youth (maybe I'll be lucky enough to have my hand in it!). On the subject of the economy, there have been rumours of another Great Depression (I don't know how reputable the source of where I heard this is). But doesn't it just make sense that amidst an economic depression the revolution of the Church will occur? I don't know...it's just a thought. It could be significant, but the reaction of the person that I shared this with definitely was not an enthusiastic one (to my surprise, and she was Christian. I won't mention her, since I don't want to embarrass my mom.) I also want to note that I'm not trying to be especially intelligent or special for what I've said. If anything, I have tonnes to learn and I am excited for that. Anyway, those are my thoughts for the day. Have a blessed New Year! Remember the Epiphany of Christ!!!