Not What I Expected From God

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(April 1,2012 – Mike Nichols)

NOT WHAT I EXPECTED FROM GOD

Passion Week is a week of Stories—the stories of Jesus last week on earth—stories of a parade, a meal, a betrayal, a mock trial, an execution, and an empty grave. Stories invite us to see how our own personal stories jive with the larger story of God’s work in our world.

Our goal today, and on Good Friday at 10 a.m. and next Sunday Morning at 7:30 a.m. at Ambleside when we baptise 6 Cappers; and at the 10 A.M. Cap worship where we celebrate resurrection life, is to retell the stories of Jesus last week in a manner as close to the way the Bible tells the story. We believe that we find our stories in this grand story. So, join us for Story week.

(Mike Nichols)

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How Do We Live By Faith When God Is Hidden?

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(January 16, 2011 – MIke Nichols)

HOW DO WE LIVE BY FAITH WHEN
GOD IS HIDDEN?
The Psalmist questioned God with these
words, “My eyes fail, looking for your promise;
“When will you comfort me?” [Psalm 119:82].
For this Psalmist, God was the Hidden Other.
His timetable was incomprehensible. How do
we live by faith when God is hidden? For
people who want God in their life the
„absence of God‟ or His hiddenness can be a
crisis.
For theologians the Hidden God is not a crisis
but a point of debate. There can be only one
sense in which God is „hidden‟: he does not
present human beings with (or at least
presents very few of them with) unmistakable
evidence of his existence in the form of „signs
and wonders‟.
The atheist goes one further. His argument is
that:
1) God wants people to know about him,
2) Reasonable people don‟t know about him,
3) Therefore, He isn‟t there to be found.
Today Mike speaks to those who identify with
the Psalmist.

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Naked Prayer: Praying for Justice (part 5 of 5)

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(Sept 6, 09 – Mike Nichols)
One of my favourite scenes from Forrest Gump is Lt. Dan sitting atop the mast of the fishing boat during the hurricane yelling at God. In a similar vein there is a scene in the movie The Apostle wherein a lady is talking about the preacher’s prayer life. She poignantly says, “Sometimes he prays. Sometimes he just yells.” Read more

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Naked Prayer: Praying the Psalms (part 4 of 5)

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(Aug 30 – Kim Pierrot)
Pray our Despair
Today, we consider what it means to “Pray our Despair” by reflecting on Psalm 88. One blogger describes the psalm this way:

“Psalm 88 is that member of the family nobody knows what to do with. Read more

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Naked Prayer: Praying the Psalms (part 2 of 5)

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(Aug 16, 09 – Kim Pierrot)
Praying Our Sin
Athanasius, a leader in the early church, once wrote this: “It seems to me also that the psalms are like a mirror. Anyone who recites them sees himself, and all the movements of his own heart and mind. He is deeply affected, because he encounters there his own words, and his own songs, only given clearer expression than he could ever have managed himself.” Read more

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Naked Prayer: Praying the Psalms (part 1 of 5)

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(Aug 9, 09 – Kim Pierrot)
Praying Our Smallness
Don’t worry; I won’t be advocating praying in your birthday suit as a way of getting closer to God. What we will be exploring in the next 5 weeks, however, is nakedness as a state of the heart— Read more

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