Whatever He Says

I found this post in my blog's archives; written three years ago by one of my favourite writers and a dear friend; Dave Hingsburger. As an Easter gift, I am sharing it again. Happy Easter everyone! A guest post by  Dave Hingsburger I've never understood the relationship between clothing and faith. Long before I became aware that we lived in a multi-cultural world, I questioned the very idea that God cares about what we wear to church. The high holidays of Easter and Christmas had my family getting dressed up and trotting off to church. There in the pews I saw everyone else from my small town dressed differently than they did normally. Tough, hard, miners hands stuck out of uncomfortable suits. Strong backed, strong armed mothers looked somehow wrong in pinks and pastels. I remember, wearing shirts that hurt to wear, wondering if God were looking down on us approvingly for dressing up for him. It seemed like we were playing 'pretend' and trying to trick God into think...

Note from Belinda On this, the second day of Holy Week, I am reflecting on the cost of my salvation and the goodness of God in making it possible. So often when Paul and I pray in the morning, I thank God that he made himself known to me; expressing gratitude over and over again that he pervades my life such that I cannot imagine living without the knowledge of him. He has transformed and healed so many broken corners of my soul, and still continues to soften and gentle me into his image more truly than I reflect it at this moment. This morning I read a post written by my dear friend Dave Hingsburger:  Loud Speakers versus Quiet Words . I wonder why anyone thinks that they can shout people into the Kingdom of God with words that sound like threats. I know that would have repulsed me.  Jesus did get angry and use loud words occasionally, but only with the "religious" and the hypocrites. Mostly he was exceedingly gentle, although he never diluted hard truth. I once wr...

I found this post in my blog's archives; written three years ago by one of my favourite writers and a dear friend; Dave Hingsburger. As an Easter gift, I am sharing it again. Happy Easter everyone! A guest post by  Dave Hingsburger I've never understood the relationship between clothing and faith. Long before I became aware that we lived in a multi-cultural world, I questioned the very idea that God cares about what we wear to church. The high holidays of Easter and Christmas had my family getting dressed up and trotting off to church. There in the pews I saw everyone else from my small town dressed differently than they did normally. Tough, hard, miners hands stuck out of uncomfortable suits. Strong backed, strong armed mothers looked somehow wrong in pinks and pastels. I remember, wearing shirts that hurt to wear, wondering if God were looking down on us approvingly for dressing up for him. It seemed like we were playing 'pretend' and trying to trick God into thin...

By Belinda Dear friends, Susan shared this with me this morning with these words, " This will be a few minutes well spent.  Perfect for a pre-easter devotional...  It's wordless, but powerful."  I did take a few minutes, and it was, so of course, I wanted to share it with you. I pray that as you prepare for Easter morning, Easter will come alive in your heart as it is in mine this weekend. I am looking forward to the Sunrise Service at the Tottenham Conservation area, which mercifully starts at 7.00 this year. :)  My dear friend Dave has written a beautiful piece for Whatever He Says on What to Wear for Easter. I will be posting it for our Easter post this evening, so that we all have time to get dressed appropriately. Eastter blessings

A post by Meg We are in Eastertide, living freshly with the remembrance of our status as an Easter people, people redeemed by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, people who live in His resurrection power if we have surrendered our lives to Him, accepted His redemption, and His lordship of our lives. As we revisit and re-member these timeless truths in extra special ways for a few days each year, we are reminded once again of who we truly are. My daily readings at this time are in Deuteronomy, full of God's reminders to His people of all that He had done for them, and of the power and promise of living in that remembrance, and the consequences of not doing so. It seems that all of Scripture does that...calling us to be our true selves, to live in the light of our destiny, to remember that we are part of God's Big Picture, and that the small details of our everyday lives are also part of the big picture of our whole lives. God gives us other ways to re-member Him a...

By Belinda This is how we spent a most wonderful Easter day! First: The Easter Sunrise service! The pastor more formally dressed in shirt and tie, is our son, Peter, reminding me of his grandfather whom I once observed reclining on the sand at Wasaga Beach, dressed in suit and tie. :) About 50 believers from various churches, gathered in time to see the sunrise over the Tottenham pond. We sang, "Jesus Christ is risen today" and heard the account of the first Easter, read from the gospels. Between the sunrise service and going home to change for church, Susan, Ann and I, went to the Cedar Kitchen for breakfast. Yes, that is the hippy Ann and I. :) Susan, Frances, Cheryl and I led worship, with Charlene on the drums, Kevin on guitar and Esther on piano. The children came up on the platform before Sunday School, for the song,"Bullfrogs and Butterflies;" the girls looked like fairy princesses in their Easter finery--all a flurry of frills and pastel gossa...

Christ is risen! I am about to drive off into the dawn for the Sunrise Service at the pond and however you are celebrating, I wish you joy. One of my dearest friends, Dave, posted this on his blog this morning. Many of you know him through his comments here. He usually writes on disability issues specifically,but since this post also speaks to faith, I share it here. Easter Sunday: A Reflection on God’s Love

By Belinda Easter is about resurrection, but mostly, I think, it is about  remembering. It has been a busy season at work and home and I confess to not having had much reflective time, but I have been remembering; thinking about Easters past as I prepare for Easter present. I didn't grow up in a church-going family but I went to a Church of England school in  Alvechurch . I loved the hymns that we sang during assembly each morning, and the prayers that we read from the Book of Common Prayer. They, and Religious Knowledge classes, gave me a good start in knowing God. The season of Lent and Easter was an emotional roller coaster ride for my little girl heart, as I re-lived Jesus's Last Supper, his agony and lonely night of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane and his betrayal and crucifixion. The hymns we sang in the week before Easter touched me so deeply that as we sang, There is a Green Hill , a lump would rise in ...

John 14:19 (New International Version) 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. The insistent beep of the alarm breaks through my warm cocoon of slumber. It is 4.45 a.m. My fingers fumble to silence the intrusion. A voice from behind me in the dark, a gentle, helpful voice, says,"The alarm went off, love." "Yes, thanks, I know...a few more minutes," I mumble back. But I dare not give into the siren that pulls me back to the shores of sleep. I have somewhere to be this morning. For He is risen. And so I slip silently as a shadow from the bed, and pad downstairs. I shower while the coffee perks, and listen to Jeff Goodes on CBC radio as he gathers the country together, creating community via email and phone. Listeners who are up share plans for the day. One is putting a turkey in the oven, the only one up in a sleeping household, while others, like me, are about to leave for sunrise services. It feels a...