Cariboo Presbyterian Church

The answer is that he would not be where we would expect.

In Luke19:1-10 we read that Jesus passed by a rich tax collector, who had been seeking Jesus, and then asks to eat with him at his house. That might not sound like a big deal to us, but lets put this in our context.

Remember the financial crisis of 2008 that was caused by the shady business practices of big bankers in the US? Many people lost savings, homes, and experienced terrible suffering because of what those bankers did. Many of these bankers made huge fortunes as the financial sector collapsed in the US and then around the world. Now imagine one of those bankers, who was responsible for some much loss and suffering, hears that Jesus is in town and he goes looking for him.

The story in Luke is very much like this situation. Tax collectors were disliked by the Jews of Jesus’ time because they were seen as extortionists and traitors because they were collecting taxes for the Romans. There is an important point to this story though. It says the tax collector was “seeking” Jesus, meaning he knew he had done wrong and wanted to know how he could make it right. If that 2008 banker went looking for Jesus, I think it was because he knew he had done something terribly wrong and wanted to know how he could make it right.

So what does it mean if Jesus is willing to talk to and even eat with someone who had caused so much suffering but was repentant and seeking to make things right? It means that Jesus can extend mercy to those who most of us could not, even to world-class crooks. Jesus spends time with people who are in need of mercy.

But how about “where” Jesus would be. There is another story in John 4:1-15 that shows that Jesus goes where nobody would expect him to go. The text says that Jesus was traveling to Judea and decided to walk through an area called Samaria. This place was within Israel, but the people that lived there had grievances with the rest of the Jews that went back many centuries.

The Jews and the Samaritans lived together, but they remained strained in their relations. Most Jews would go around this place if they were travelling, but Jesus went straight through it and stopped to speak with a woman along the way. He explained to her that the differences that had kept them at odds were now ended because of the new way God was speaking to all people — though Jesus.

I think we would find Jesus in similar places in Canada, talking with anyone that wanted to speak with him. The point of the text in the gospel of John is that Jesus was removing barriers to God that had been put up by religious leaders. I think we would find Jesus doing the same thing today. His message has not changed. His message is that God has shown his love to all people by trading their sorrows for his joy. And this comes by faith in Jesus.

If Jesus walked among us today, he would be forgiving people who did not expect to be forgiven and walking and talking with people who did not expect to see him.

What is a father? A biological relation? A familial position? A role? One of the themes in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov  is the effect of a reprobate father on his sons. It involves treachery, murder, lust, betrayal, loyalty, compassion, and sorrow to name a few.

This theme culminates at the end of the story in the closing arguments of the lawyer for Dmitri Karamazov, who is on trial for the murder of his father. This lawyer separates the biological father from the traditional role of father and beseeches the jury to recognize the difference between the two. The consequence of convicting Dmitri for the murder of Fyodor as his father are what is at stake. He argues that to convict Dmitri for this murder is to isolate him and condemn him to eternal damnation. It is a confirmation to himself that he is evil and that those convicting him are evil. He is evil for killing his father and the judge, jury, and prosecution is evil for forcing him to acknowledge that Fyodor was his father.

Fyodor was a cruel, selfish, petty, and malicious man who thought only of himself and his lusts. He cared nothing for his children and stole the little amount of money that was their inheritance from their mothers (the three boys were half siblings). In the end, the jury convicts him of the murder of his father and in so doing, Dostoevsky leaves a chilling thought in the air that the role of father is convicted along with him. What will become of fathers?

I think time has come to answer that question and the result is not favourable. Men who beget children have lost much of what it means to be a father in the century since Dostoevsky asked the question.

If Fyodor was cruel, selfish, and petty, then what should a father be and why should a father act in that manner? To start, could we say a father should be the opposite of Fyodor, which would be caring, selfless, and honourable? The second question is “why” a father should act a certain way.

Dostoevsky’s way of answering that question was through his detailed story that followed that lives of these three boys, each with unique personalities, ambitions, and outcomes. Dmitri was the headstrong soldier whose undisciplined life led to his downfall. Ivan was the smart, educated intellectual who scorned his father and God. His intellectual pursuits, sorrow, and scorn for God led him to lose his mind in the end. Only the innocent monk Alyosha comes out in the end and avoids the disaster of a reprobate father. In the end, it is not strength or intelligence that overcomes, but strength of spirit.

Alyosha has learned to love other people under the tutelage of the Orthodox monks he had been living with. If the role of father will survive and overcome selfishness, then we as people seeking to live together, with strong and healthy familial relationships, must learn to love, and I would add, learn to love from Jesus Christ.

Just before his death, Jesus knelt in a garden overlooking Jerusalem and asked God that if there was any way possible that he would not have to die on the cross. His desire nevertheless was not his will, but God’s will that would be done.

This relationship of son to father is the perfect model for us. Not in that God caused his son to suffer terribly, but in that they shared a perfect love that overcame even the most disastrous life events through not strength
nor intelligence, but spirit.

 

 

Alicia and I were walking back to our new home in Williams Lake and I remarked to her that one thing that really bothers me about our yard is the lack of definition between the grass and the gravel parking area. The grass is like a slow moving tide working its way up the beach, which is my gravel parking lot. I need boundaries to clearly define what is parking lot and what is yard, otherwise they join in a messy transition that does not look good. Every time I get out of my car I imagine how I will dig up portions and create clear boundaries with borders, fences, and ground covers, all designed to give me the definition and boundaries that I need to have peace of mind. I have an impulse to impose order on chaos. I wonder if anyone else feels this way? Continue reading “My struggle with grass creep”

Jon and Shannon both grew up in Southern Ontario: Jon in the Toronto area and Shannon in Port Hope, a small town along Lake Ontario.

Jon first pursued a diploma in graphic design and during that time in college committed his life to Christ at a youth retreat. At the same weekend he sensed a call to missions. He went on to work in short-term missions in Holland and Toronto before going to Ontario Bible College, York University and eventually seminary. Shannon studied for a diploma from Ewart College in Christian Education and a degree in Religious Studies before she and Jon went to Knox College for ministry training.

Jon and Shannon dated while in university and were married in 1986. They each finished their degrees and entered Knox College together and were ordained together in 1991. Their ministry experience to that point had been focused on inner-city missions and they went on to share a position in Montreal in an inner-city ministry of the church. The call to the Cariboo and rural ministry was quite unexpected, but God always knows what is best for them. They have been truly blessed to labour in God’s vineyard in the Cariboo.

They have settled in the remote, predominantly Dakelh community of Ndazkoh where they are reaching out to their own village as well as other local villages and bands. Jon and Shannon have 2 daughters: Shelby is an actor, graduated with a BFA in acting from Trinity Western University. She is married to Tyler who has a BA in music from TWU and is working on a Master’s degree in theology and the arts at Regent College. Joelle is also working on a BFA in acting at TWU.

Jon and Shannon’s vision is to see Ndazkoh and the surrounding bands transformed by the love of Christ.

Bruce and Jackie Wilcox

Bruce was born in Kamloops. B.C., and has lived pretty much all his life in and around the 100 Mile House area. Other than a couple of stints of post-secondary education, he worked mostly for local lumber manufacturers until his appointment to full time ministry in the CPC in Aug. 2013.

Under the mentoring and encouragement of Dave Webber and other teaching elders, Bruce responded to a call to eldership in the Church in 1999, and has since been designated a “lay missionary with training” by the presbytery of Kamloops. Bruce began full-time ministry in the Cariboo in August 2013, taking on many of the house churches that had been led by David Webber until his retirement and developing new areas of mission as well.

His wife Jackie is a care-aide who works in home support, and they have been blessed with the house church model of worship in the CPC, and opportunities from the Lord to reach out in ministry to others with that; whether in a designated building, people’s homes, or places like Seniors’ Care facilities.

Bruce and Jackie live in 108 Mile Ranch, and have four “kids” – all grown up now. They love reading, music (Bruce loves jam sessions and trying to learn more on his guitar), and a good hockey game.