Some new friends...

I shared with some of you about some new friends I’ve made who are from the Near East (Saudia Arabia & Turkey). It’s really been fun and energizing getting to know the guys and seeing our friendships developing. To give you a brief summary of what gone on so far, recently a street drama ministry that a friend of mine is in began performing Friday and Saturday nights downtown on Robson in front of the Art gallery. I attended on a few weeks ago to watch and hopefully get to talk with someone in the crowd. The only person I met was a young guy named Muhammed (Jordanian-Saudi) who had only been in Vancouver a couple of weeks. We talked a little bit about faith but mostly about life, transitioning into Vancouver, culture shock, background, etc. Afterwards we ended up going out for coffee with a group of friends and just hung out for the rest of the night. Before we left we exchanged contact info and planned on meeting sometime later.

The next weekend Muhammed, I, and Steve, a Christian Canadian studying International Relations who has spent time in Northern Africa, got together for dinner and then went to his apartment for some Turkish coffee and dates. It was a great time of friendship building. While we were there his Turkish roommate and two friends came home and so the six of us ended up hanging out and talking, making friends. It was an incredibly enjoyable evening.
Then last Friday night I went again to watch the street drama ministry but I arrived quite late, an hour before finishing. I was there not even 10 minutes when up beside me walks two of the turkish guys that I had met in Muhammed’s apartment! We laughed about how ‘random’ it was that we should find each other there. We ended up grabbing coffee and then going out with some other friends until 1:30 am. Again, it was a great time of connecting, building friendship, and having meaningful conversation. Late in the evening, Holuk who is about 21 asked me, “Do you believe that we came from monkeys? I read lots of people saying that.” What a great sign that he is asking questions about ultimate reality and who we really are as humans. Please pray for him and for the rest of the guys that our friendships would grow, trust would deepen, and they would keep asking the right questions and find the true answer.

Downtown Vancouver...some of my most recent photography

Take a look at the next 8 photos and leave a comment telling me which are your top two pics.

Downtown Vancouver...some of my most recent photography

Christ and the Eucharist

**Recently I received a comment that my pictures have been really nice to look at but the content of my blog has been lacking. Well, I totally agree. Sorry. I've been really busy getting ready for reading week. Here is something i typed up last week. Sorry for the posting delays...

As I finish up my last week of classes before reading week the work load begins to grow, but also with increasing joy. This morning in chapel we had a beautiful communion service that I found was theologically very rich and facilitated a very reverent and personal experience of Christ through the eucharist. I had my eyes open once again to the reality of Christ and the sure promise that is given to us - that if we would eat and drink his life into us we will never perish but have eternal life. I was also reminded by the Holy Spirit through the words of the message of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ to us - even in the midst of our pathetic, failed attempts at holiness. “And of those who the Father has given me I will not lose one”, Jesus said. He promises his sovereign work of grace not just in responding to our cries for salvation but in bringing about in us consciousness of our sin and raising within us a desire for salvation and for His Presence. And what then does he call us to do? “This is the work of God, that you would believe in the One who he has sent.” That’s it. That we would believe in and trust in Jesus. May he help us to do so.

...But back to the eucharist...or should I type, Eucharist. If the Eucharist really is only symbolic why does the Scripture say that some who ate of it unworthily fell sick, the reason being that they were joining in “participation in the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus”? (citation) If it is because the symbol is just that, a symbol of the Lord Jesus, then we should treat a symbol representing him as if it was him. Then for all practical purposes, the Eucharist should be approached, spoken of, and partaken in as if it were Christ’s body and blood. Theology has the task of clarifying the metaphysical meaning of Biblical language. But shouldn’t liturgy speak of the symbols not as being symbols but as the very body and blood of Jesus?. It should facilitate one’ s experience with Christ not in spite of the physical elements but through the physical elements. It lets the symbols truly be symbols in the deepest, most experiential sense. Those are some of my thoughts for now; I’d love to have some of you post your thoughts on the topic.

Mirslav Volf from Yale Divinity School

These are pictures of a conference we just had at Regent. Mirslav Volf came and spoke on the topic of pluralism. Very cool! He is a highly regarded professor at Yale Divinity School. Mirslav is the last gentleman in the while shirt. My gentleman in the middle is Hans Boersma, a systematic theology professor here. The third gentleman is our profesor of exegetical preaching, Darrell Johnson.

fall colours

This is a picture of the back wall behind our house.