When I posted this story on Monday night, I didn’t realize that the rather massive piece I put up next, Great Worship Songs, would force this one back to the second page. So here it is again, with apologies to those of you who did in fact read it on Monday.
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This story was front and center on the morning talk show at CFRA in Ottawa this morning as we drove into Eastern Ontario. The best recent news source I could find on this was Lorn Gunter’s blog page at The National Post.
If the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) gets its way, Ontario’s doctors will soon be stripped of their right to follow their moral convictions or religious beliefs when treating patients. In other words, doctors will risk losing their licenses if they run afoul of Ontario’s human rights police.
If, out of moral conviction, they refuse to perform abortions, refer patients for abortions or prescribe morning-after and birth control pills, or if they refuse to help same-sex couples conceive children, their own governing body will take away their right to practice medicine.
Should euthanasia become legal at some point, physicians would be expected to help patients die, too, even if doing so violated their every moral fibre…
Some Christian doctors won’t go along with this and simply take an earlier retirement. This makes the College’s move difficult to understand given the severe doctor shortage in the province. Maybe they don’t realize how many Christian doctors are out there.
Read the whole commentary on this story here.
Here’s a classic post from Today At The Mission (see blogroll at right) from March, 2005 that gives some insight into what it’s like to work at Peterborough’s Brock Street Mission:
Today a client asked me what was the worst job I’ve ever had. “This one”, I replied. “This place is impossible.”
He then asked me what was the best job I’ve ever had. I thought for a minute and then said, “This one - I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else.”
I’ll apologize to Dickens later.
The working relationship I had with Rev. David Fowler at Cobourg Alliance Church in Ontario, Canada was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Despite the fact that his education includes an earned Doctorate in Education, he always treated me as an equal. The dynamics of that relationship continue to this day.
However, with one exception, I remember very little of the individual sermons that he preached on Sunday mornings and evenings. The exception is a message that David brought on prayer. His desire was to show from scripture that it is the nature of God to want to lavish good things on us; and that in terms of our requests, He is “positively disposed and favorably inclined” to give us what we’re asking for. He used the phrase “positively disposed and favorably inclined” repeatedly in the sermon until it started to sound like a classic ’60s commercial pitch for laundry detergent or dish soap; the exact specifics of the comparison which I can’t remember. By the end though, we knew that — apart from the other factors that must weigh into consideration when you are God after all, with infinite wisdom and knowledge — His desire is say ‘yes’ to us. And I have remembered that for nearly 20 years.
I often think of that sermon. The dynamics of unanswered prayer can be a real stumbling block for many of us. Some are forever paralyzed spiritually by the job they prayed for but didn’t get. The girl they asked God to send them who never came. The medical condition they pleaded for healing for, that never happened.
Tonight though, I started to wonder for the first time what I would do if I were the one presenting that same message today. Is there a way I would say it differently? Rather than answer that directly, I want to leave it with you in the form of a question. How you answer says much about how you understand the nature and ways of God. To do it, since we’re all reading this online, I’ll use a term that almost every computer user understands.
Let’s assume that we tell God we have something we want to ask Him, but for whatever reason, let’s assume He doesn’t know what it is. Here’s the question: When we go to God in prayer, before we even begin, is His default answer “yes” or is His default answer “no”?
That’s how I would approach this subject in a computer-dominated world. Think about it.
Yesterday, I read chapter 13 of Timothy Keller’s The Reason for God, two times. This is the chapter called, ‘The Reality of the Resurrection.’ He says that today, modern people look at claims of bodily resurrection with skepticism, but we think maybe it was no big deal for people at the time. Apparently C. S. Lewis called this “chronological snobbery.” At the time, the notion of resurrection was equally inconceivable. To paraphrase Keller (pages 206-7),
- In Greco-Roman thinking, soul (or spirit) was good, physical (and material) was bad. Any form of “salvation” meant liberation from the body. “No soul, having gotten free from its body, would ever want it back.”
- If you believed in reincarnation, a return to the “embodied” life meant the soul was not yet free. If your soul got free, it just didn’t return to “embodied life.”
- To the Jews, resurrection was part of the renewal of everything. So you couldn’t have ‘just one guy’ who gets resurrected in the middle of history, while everything else stays the same. If resurrection is happening, the whole world is going through a radical change at the same time.
- Your whole ‘movement’ ends with the death of its ‘messiah’ or leader. You either find a new messiah, or pack up your stuff and go home. You don’t claim that he has resurrected, or that the defeat is really a triumph.
Keller adds (p. 209) that “Western religions believed that the various gods often took human guise. It was possible, therefore, that some human figure could really be Zeus or Hermes. Jews, however believed in a single, transcendent, personal God. It was absolute blasphemy to propose that any human being should be worshipped. Yet hundreds of Jews began worshipping Jesus literally overnight.” Keller prefaces this with the notation that the “overnight” part is equally shocking. The new worldview that came out of following Jesus was not the result of debate or discussion. They were just reporting what they had seen.
For those of you who follow our blog, we received news an hour ago that Mike’s wife Janice passed away early this morning. We will update this message when we have more news on Mike’s daughter Sarah. I cannot imagine having two close family members in intensive care at the same time.
I originally wanted to call this, “Classic Worship Songs,” but now I’m glad I didn’t. This begins with a few you might know and then moves to some less familiar. I hope you’ll look into the ones you don’t know. Comments, and thoughts about other choruses are welcome; we might do this again sometime! If you want to pursue this further, there are some great worship blogs online, and you don’t have to be a worship leader to join the discussion. Just thinking about these pieces has provided me with an inward time of worship at the end of a busy day.
Matt Redman’s composition from the year 2000 is a bit intense musically for some churches, but I can’t think of a better call to worship lyrically. Think of it as a more rocking version of the sentiments expressed in his better known song, “Heart of Worship.” I’ve used this in its song form and also used the spoken lyrics only.
As we come today we remind ourselves of what we do
That these songs are not just songs but signs of love for You
This is a holy moment now
Something of heaven touches earth
Voices of angels all resound
We join their song
Canadian Brian Doerksen’s 2003 piece based on the declaration found in the book of Joshua has become an anthem for many churches. The album of the same name was based on a live concert that was recorded on video, and remains my all time favorite worship concert DVD.
Today I choose to follow You
Today I choose to give my yes to You
Today I choose to hear Your voice and live
Today I choose to follow You
As for me and my house
We will serve You
This piece was written in 1999 by Chris Wright and appeared as part of an unusual album called “A.D.” released by Hosanna Music with the intention of using worship music in evangelism. Customers purchased a copy and received a second copy to give away to an unsaved friend. A narration that was not actually recorded created flow from piece to piece. The ultimate “musical” for churches with worship teams instead of a choir, this album never really caught on, but we were left with some beautiful compositions including this one which mixes testimony with worship.
When I left the shelter of Your warm embrace
And my prodigal heart chose to run away
Still You waited with an unfailing love
A God of justice yet a God of grace
So familiar with all my ways
Still You love me with an unfailing love
I will sing of Your unfailing love…
