What's Next?

Kelly and I had a fun weekend. We visited our daughter Holly in Kingston and had a great time together. We went up on Saturday afternoon and took her out for supper to a restaurant of her choice where Kelly and I had fish and chips and she had, surprise, surprise - a veggie burger!

We spent the evening watching "Volver", a Spanish movie with English subtitles which allowed us to brush up on our language skills without having to work too hard. Then we had a sleepover in her little apartment. We slept on the futon and once again found it to be remarkably comfortable.

In the morning we went to Holly's new church home which meets just around the corner from her apartment. It is called "Next" and it is an interesting experience if you are open to different ways of "doing church." This was the second time that we have been there with Hols and we found that they were just as warm and friendly as our last visit which bodes well for her. The first to welcome us was the same official greeter that we met the last time. He gave us a big smile and although he was wearing an Ottawa Senators shirt, he seems like a real nice guy! Outgoing and friendly, he is exactly the sort of extrovert that you want to meet you at the door. It turns out that his uncle used to be the pastor when Kelly went to the Free-Methodist church in Frankford about...well, I won't tell you how many years ago! Once again we tried out the "fair trade" coffee that was on offer. I downed mine before we got to the pew but Holly is delighted that they let you take...no, encourage you to take your coffee right to your seat if you so desire.

It is great to see that they have quite a lot of kids. In fact probably half the church is composed of young couples and their families, which answers the ongoing question that many churches have as to where the 20's-40's are. Could it be partly that they make it so easy for families to be there? A couple of pews have been removed and replaced with couches which the younger kids clamber over. We saw parents changing their babies right in the pews and no one batted an eye. The kids were allowed to move around a bit, even when the service started and it was refreshing to hear their chattering, squawks, and general restless energy until they went downstairs part way through.

Once again the music was well played by the praise team and their selection of songs was intriguing and thought provoking. A couple of Bob Dylan and U2 pieces that were obviously written at times of personal searching were helpful in letting us identify with some of our pew-mates and reminded us of our need to seek and find answers to some of the nittier, grittier questions in life. They brought to mind some of the psalms of David with their anguished cries during times of severe trials. However, I personally would have liked to see at least one piece that was unashamely and pointedly worshipful as when they so did the last time that we were there it changed the whole tone of the service. I imagine that they are trying to make their service as seeker friendly as possible and on the whole I think that they accomplished this, but they have no problem in proclaiming the Word of God and making it relevant to a modern world so I think that maybe they need to find a way to do this with their music also.

Gary was the speaker this morning and he shared some thoughts about love. His style was very relaxed, thoughtful and appropriate, with some great personal stories and insights to help us understand the different kinds of love that we see described in scripture. The admonition to "love one another" as he imagined that John might have said it was unforgettably dramatic.

We were all invited to stay for what they described, if i remember correctly, as a "lucky lunch" as opposed to a "pot-luck". Holly was delighted to see that the first four dishes were all veggie-vegan! Always one to try any kind of food I found that the veggie chili tasted pretty much like non-veggie chili! I also tried a number of other dishes that I was unable to name but they mostly tasted yummy for the tummy!

After we sat down at the table the pastor and his wife came and sat beside Holly and struck up a conversation with her. Kudos to them for making a point of doing that! They are a young couple in their mid-twenties and obviously have a sensitivity towards God's leading in their lives. While we were eating and making friends with some of the folks we had a visit from a couple of people who were giving out free energy saving porchlights! Naturally Holly took one even though she has no porch light but between the free light bulb, veggie food, U2 music, colourful hippie style clothing of some of the folks and overall relaxed friendliness of the place she is convinced that she has found a group of people that might think about church the way that she does. I even noticed that she was paying attention all the way through the sermon as she made a comment to me about something that Gary said when he was deep into his presentation. This is a good thing!

I would love to go back sometime and see how they run their small group studies. It appears that they have a number of them going on during the week and have obviously had some success with their overall strategy as they have already planted a second church about 10 blocks away. If you love to research on the web or are just incredibly nosey like me you can check out their website at:

http://www.nextchurch.com/

So, although we are still waiting patiently for our visas we are finding useful ways to spend our time with family and new friends and know that God knows best when it comes to matters of timing.

Here is the verse for today.... thanks to the Next crew!

Romans 12:10

"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves."

May we all be committed to carrying out this command and demonstrate Christ's love to all our fellow Christians.