Canada, defined by an American
As one of the segments shown during NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics, Tom Brokaw explains the northern neighbors of the USA.
Declaring His Praise
When Peter wrote his first letter to the Christ-followers that had scattered throughout the region, one of his purposes was to encourage them. Another purpose was to remind them of their identity in Christ.
He writes these words: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9
One of the chief ways that we worship God is by declaring His goodness and what he has done in our lives. We can make the mistake of relegating the meaning of “worship” to a music genre. Worship isn’t the same as music, in fact, worship better equated to a lifestyle. When we come to God’s house and sing our praise and express our worship in that setting, it is a continuation of the worship of Him that we have expressed through the rest of the week.
I want to challenge you to be conscious of your worship today. Is your lifestyle consistent with your worshipful expression on a Sunday morning? Consistency in our lifestyle is critically important if we are truly people who “declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness.”
A US first grade teacher explained to her class…
A US first grade teacher explained to her class that she is an American. She asked her students to raise their hands if they are American too. Not really knowing why but wanting to be like their teacher, their hands went up.There is, however, one exception. A girl named Kristen had not gone along with the class.
The teacher asked her why she has decided to be different. "Because I am not an American."
"Then," asks the teacher, "What are you?"
"I'm a proud Canadian," boasted the little girl.
The teacher asked Kristen why she is a Canadian.
"Well, my mom and dad are Canadians, so I'm a Canadian too."
The teacher replied,"Well, you could have been born in the US!" she said loudly. Not using good logic the teacher said , "What if your mom was not a good hockey player, and your dad was not a good hockey player? Would that mean that you are not a good hockey player too?"
A pause, and a smile. Kristen replied, "Nope! That'd mean I'm an American!"
I AM Proud of my Citizenship
I just finished watching the final medal sport of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The Canadian Men’s Hockey team beat the USA team in overtime.
I was born in Hong Kong to missionary parents. By birth- determined citizenship is Canadian. I am living in the States and have been a Naturalized citizen of the USA for more than four years now.
Over the last couple of weeks, I have been proud when USA team members won gold, I have been proud when Canadian teams won. I was ecstatic when the Canadian hockey team won.
There was something that happened earlier today that made me even more ecstatic though. Something tied to another, more important, citizenship that I also hold. When I was child, I became a citizen of heaven and what truly brought a tear to my eye was watching a handful of people walked to the front of a church auditorium and make the decision to follow Christ! Now that’s something to be proud of!
Philippians 3:20 “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ”
I am proud of my citizenship in heaven!
Washing Toilets
One of the passages that our culture cannot fully understand is the account of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. The account is found in John 13. The disciples had arrived in a house to celebrate the Passover dinner.
The custom of the day was that a slave would wash the feet of any guests that had come to the house so that the dirt and dust from the streets wouldn’t get tracked around the house. Now, it was any slave that got this job, it was the slave lowest on the totem pole that got the foot washing duties.
The disciples had rented a room for this dinner and apparently there were no slaves to take care of the washing of feet. I’m sure Jesus watched the disciples as they came into the room. He probably saw them looking around and wondering who was going to wash everyone’s feet.
I don’t think that we can fully grasp the shock that the disciples would have experienced when Jesus picked up the towel and basin. We don’t fully appreciate what Jesus did, only because we don’t fully get how despised and demeaning a job, foot washing was.
I’ve often wondered what in our culture would compare to help us emotionally react the way the disciples would have. You see, now foot washing has become symbolic – elevated even – as the act of service. The only act that I’ve come up with: to go into someone’s house and clean their washroom – their entire washroom! Floor to ceiling!
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