Captivated by God’s Passion to Listen

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(May 6, 2012 – Brian Dean)

Come…Come…Come…

Here at Cap we believe that God invites us into a present and active relationship with Him. Our aim is not simply to know more about God but to know God more. Since we cannot see God, it is common to relate to Him similarly to how we would act in a long distance relationship. However this morning Brian Dean will be sharing from Isaiah 55, where God invites His people to come, be with Him, and listen. To do this, communication is vital and in Christianity this is often called prayer.

Henri Nouwen says that “Prayer helps us stand in the presence of God with all we have and are: our fears and our anxieties; our guilt and shame; our sexual fantasies; our greed and anger; our joys, successes, aspirations, and hopes; our reflections, dreams and mental wandering; and most of all our family, friends, and enemies—in short all that makes us who we are. With all this we have to listen to God’s voice and allow God to speak to us in every corner of our being.”

(Brian Dean)

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Justice Sunday

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(April 29, 2012 – Gwen McVicker and Sue Todd)

Justice Sunday

Today is Justice Sunday at CapChurch. The Justice Hub@Cap has a four pronged mandate around advocacy for the marginalized: to celebrate God’s justice; to educate the community; to support Cappers doing justice; to call justice “passions” out of the community. Today is about advocacy on behalf of the sexually victimized. Read more

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Captivated by God’s Passion for Placemaking

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(May 13, 2012 – Kim Pierrot)

CAPTIVATED BY GOD’S PASSION FOR PLACEMAKING

Passage: Jeremiah 29:4-11

The first time we encounter the word ‘placemaking’ is in 1562, when the second edition of the Geneva Bible (aka “The Placemakers’ Bible”) was printed. In it, the gospel of Matthew, chapter five verse nine reads: “Blessed are the placemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” Oops! I do think God loves placemaking, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what Jesus actually meant in the Beatitudes.

In any case, the terms’ current usage can be traced back to the 1970s when architects and planners used the word ‘placemaking’ to describe the act of designing spaces that were pleasurable or interesting. Forty years later, the term is now understood more as a transformative communal process that seeks to build resilient and dynamic neighbourhoods and public spaces.

This morning, as we continue in the series “Captivated by God’s Passion”, we consider Jeremiah 29: 4-11 which gives us a vivid picture of what it might look like to care passionately about where you live and, together with others, to make it a safer, friendlier, better place.
(Kim Pierrot)

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Good Seed Sunday

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(April 22, 2012 – Luke Wilson)

Good Seed Sunday

Today is Good Seed Sunday at Cap. We believe that the earth is the Lord’s and everything and everyone who lives on the planet belongs to him. Because we believe this, self-care; care of one another in community and care of creation are important values for us. We want to love and tend to the earth and all of God’s creatures [including us!]. We’ve invited our own Luke Wilson who works with the Christian conservation ministry A Rocha to remind us of the great gift God has given us to tend and what it means in our day to lovingly tend the earth and not abuse it.

Did you know that A Rocha is fighting poverty through conservation? They even have a work in Uganda. A Rocha is working with slum dwellers on the edge of Kampala protect the wetland on which they depend for water, food and building materials so that they and the wildlife can thrive together. This is includes providing clean drinking water and finding new ways to dispose of sewage and rubbish. Doing conservation here is bringing health and dignity to people as the pollution of the swamp is being reduced. Sounds like kingdom work to me.

(Mike Nichols)

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How to Live In Community with People You Don’t Like

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(April 15, 2012 – Mike Nichols)

How to Live in Community with People You Don’t Like

Community. Yep we call ourselves—Cap Community because we believe there is much to learn from relationships. Community at its best is an experience, according to Henri Nouwen not only of, “I am beloved; you are beloved; together we can create space for God and others but also an uncomfortable place because it is often the place where the person you least want to live with always lives. Read more

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Resurrected Jesus and Believing Thomas

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(April 8, 2012 – Kim Pierrot)

Resurrected Jesus and Believing Thomas

Does it seem strange to you, on the Sunday when we declare and celebrate “Jesus is Risen!” that we are reflecting on the experience of Thomas, the one best known for his doubt in the whole resurrection thing? Well, frankly, I think poor Thomas has been given a lot of bad press over the years.

For when we look closely at the gospel account in John 20, when we take note of what Thomas was longing for and the way Jesus responded to him, we find a model, not for doubting, but for believing.

Sermon text: John 20: 19-31

(Kim Pierrot)

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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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An Astonished Heart

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(March 25, 2012 – Mike Nichols)

AN ASTONISHED HEART

Today’s readers of the letter to the Romans are likely to skip over chapters 9-11. What does the absence of faith in Christ by so many of the Hebrew people have to do with today’s church? Paul can’t so easily dismiss this question. He says that he would welcome his own damnation if it could mean salvation for the Hebrew people. Three questions are addressed in Romans 9-11:

• Has God’s word failed [9:6] to open hardened hearts?
• Is God unjust—if salvation depends on God’s mercy and God’s initiative is he not unjust or immoral to exclude the Hebrew people [9:14]?
• How can God blame anyone for unbelief if his grace is irresistible? [9:19-22]

Paul’s answers are to lead to an astonished heart which opens Romans 12 with the phrase—“therefore in light of this mercy of God let us offer ourselves fully o God”. As we work through this material today, attend to your own heart and see if it is astonished. (Mike Nichols)

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