Post-Easter Catching Up

Hey everyone!

Sorry it's been such a long time since my last post. Easter is always the busiest season of the year for me because of all the church services and family get-togethers and whatnot. I was going to do another post today about my daily Bible readings but I have actually fallen behind a fair bit- I am still on April 1st! So that will be my goal for this week, to catch up on two weeks' worth of readings.

In this pascal season of the church calendar, we are reminded of what is, essentially, the formative story of our faith- that is, Christ's sacrifice and resurrection, and the weight of sin that is lifted off of us through that. There's heaps of church services full of rich liturgy and lots of Scripture, and it's just such a beautiful time of year, weather-wise as well! We've had sun and mild temperatures here in Montreal for the last couple of weeks, and that is just excellent.

This year, pastor Keith decided to plan a Maundy Thursday service at Emmaus. I had never even heard of Maundy Thursday, let alone gone to a service for one, so I didn't really know what to expect. But he asked me to lead the music, so I got to take a look at the liturgy in advance and that gave me a better idea. It's a pretty neat service actually- it basically focuses on the Last Supper and has a sort of joyous but sombre feel to it, if that makes sense? We had the privilege of having Bishop-moderator Don Harvey join us for this service to help Keith give communion to the congregation.

The next day, for Good Friday, Emmaus members were encouraged to drive out to Lennoxville for a joint service with a new ANiC congregation there. So a bunch of the young adults from our church hopped in a van together and made a party out of it. One of our good friends is living out there to study at Champlain College on the Bishop's U campus, so we picked her up after the service and brought her home to surprise her family.

Saturday night, after a long evening of dinner and walking around, my girlfriend and I joined a bunch of our friends at the Newman Centre, a catholic church group on McGill's campus, for an overnight reading of the Gospel of John. There was something really awesome about a big group of young adults hanging out all night and reading the Word together in preparation for Easter Sunday. In the morning (super early) we all walked up to (theoretically) watch the sunrise on Mount Royal, where there were a few other groups already there worshipping and just having a lot of fun!

Sadly, the sun didn't quite rise this year, as it was super cloudy and threatening rain that morning. So, up there is a photo from last year, when I went up with Victory Heights, and we joined up with the Newman crowd and a few other churches that had headed up.

What I find really amazing about Easter is that it's not just a day, but a full-on season in the church calendar. So, while the secular celebrators have had their chocolate and eggs and have moved on, Christians everywhere get to keep celebrating the joy of Christ's resurrection for a few more weeks before Ascension (which is also super exciting, but we'll get to that in May)!

That's it for today. I am currently reading a lot of stuff about penal substitution, so I will probably end up writing something about that fairly soon. It's seasonally appropriate I think :P

Blessings!

New Year's Eve

Well, it's the 31st of December, 2011, and you know what that means: It's New Year's Eve! As of about 7 or 8 hours ago, there have been people partying in various time zones to celebrate a new year, all over the world! (Except maybe China. They'll get theirs in February)

People have been asking me all week if I'm excited for the new year. I think I definitely am, and I think a part of the reasoning behind that is that I was a little unsatisfied with 2011. Or at least, this is what I have convinced myself of. So, I've decided I'm going to write a post reflecting on ten things that were particularly great about 2011, so that I can look back fondly and not remain convinced that it was mediocre!

1. 2011 was a big year for me in terms of blogging stuff- in that, so far, it was the ONLY year for me! So that's kind of exciting! I have had over 1600 hits since I started writing in June, and that number just keeps growing! Thanks to all of my readers, regular or occasional, for making that possible!

2. I turned 18 this year! (This is the part where anyone reading my blog who *didn't* know how young I am goes "what?!") I am now officially old enough to be considered an adult, to vote, to buy alcohol (at least in Montreal) and to gamble! I don't particularly want to do most of those things, but it's still nice to have options!

3. I met an amazing Australian, Nathan Royters, who is totally awesome, on fire for Christ, and I'm excited to say will be moving in with me this summer when he gets back to Montreal!

4. Emmaus got a rector! In June/July (I forget at this point) we were blessed with the arrival of Keith Ganzer, a fantastic preacher and all-around cool guy who's been a really great addition to our community.

5. I got a laptop! And just in time too- I got this thing and about a week later, my desktop PC decided it hated itself and died. It's not beyond the point of fixing, I'm just too lazy and not computer-savvy enough to deal with it. Maybe that will be another goal for 2012...

6. I went to Crosstalk Ministries' Senior Youth Camp for the first time ever, and met a whole bunch of really amazing people! Shout-outs to Mark Latulipe, Paulo Gonzales, Liam Julien, Mike Still and all the others!

7. Thanks to Mark, I got my first real job! I've been a proud member of the Braxon team since September, cleaning carpets and such, along with Paulo! I also got another job, as the janitor at St Stephen's Anglican Church in Westmount, so I guess this year has been a really good one in terms of work stuff.

8. I also started an acapella band, the Brovertones, with Paulo, Nathan, Tim Blais and Josiah Henderson! So far we've only really worked on one song, and only three of us were there for it, but it sounds really great and it's better than nothing, I think!

9. I wrote a song! And while it's true that I was hoping to be done with it back in July and am still ironing out some kinks, I'm happy to say it will definitely be ready for release sometime in the next month or two, recorded and everything! So keep an eye out for that!

10. Last but certainly not least, I got to spend even more time working with the lovely kids at the Emmaus Youth Group. I've known most of them since before I was their age, so it's been such a blessing watching them grow up and being able to be a part of their lives!

So, after writing all that, I am no longer convinced that 2011 was a mediocre year. It was pretty darned exciting actually! And I'm even more excited to see what God has in store for me in 2012.

Cheers,

Tom

Recent Goings-On

So you might be wondering what I've been up to recently that's kept me so busy!

Or you might not, that's cool too.

Either way, I figured I should talk a little bit about how I've been spending my time the last couple of weeks!

I finished school a couple of weeks ago, so it's weird that I've had less time to write recently than before. You would think that being done with all my classes would give me more time, but that's not really the case. Christmas is a really busy season for me- and probably for a lot of us, now that I think about it! I was asked to lead the music for the Emmaus Christmas Day service this year, so I've been thinking a lot about Christmas music lately.

We also wrapped up youth group this past Friday night with our annual Christmas Party! That was pretty amazing- we had a gift swap, only we did it "yankee-swap" style and it was a lot of fun to watch people steal gifts from eachother. Hot ticket items included a package of bacon, an Edward Cullen action figure, some Angry Birds merchandise, a lock of hair and lunch for 3 at a tasty dumpling restaurant.

Also this weekend was the December edition of Crossroads! Crossroads is a monthly youth service hosted by Crosstalk Ministries, where I have the pleasure of helping lead musical worship alongside some truly wonderful people! It was a really great service as we celebrated the advent season with a spaghetti dinner, a special Eucharistic service and a ginger-bread house making (and eating!) competition.

 I've also been working, and eating more pizza than is probably healthy, and enjoying the company of friends and family! Last night I had the final meeting of a small study group I was attending this semester, as most of the group are heading back to Singapore next week! A quick shout-out to Abigail, Leroy and Tommy and all of your companions! Praying for you guys to have a safe trip home and looking forward to hearing from you soon :)

Well, that's the end of my exhausted ramblings for now. I'm still pretty wired though so I will probably write up something that's actually interesting and provocative in a few minutes.

A Guest Post from Carl Jones!

Hey guys,

So, those of you who are regular readers know that a little while ago I wrote a guest post for my friend Carl's blog! Tonight (or today, depending on what time zone you're in, word to my international followers) we have the pleasure of receiving a guest post in return! Carl is American, which is pretty cool, and it's my understanding that they have some kind of strange ritual this time of year that we Canadians celebrate in October. Thanksgiving! My favorite mostly-secular holiday ever. Anyways, this isn't my post, it's Carl's! So I'll stop talking now, and let's just jump right to it! :)

When Tom asked me to write a guest post for him about "American Thanksgiving," I admit the sound of those words hit me a bit funny.  I know that Canadian Thanksgiving is earlier- in fact I just saw an episode of How I Met Your Mother in which the very Canadian character of Robin comments that Thanksgiving in November just seems odd.  But truth be told I never really think of Thanksgiving as "our" holiday.  I know the history of it all- the Pilgrims and the Native Americans sitting down over a feast to celebrate surviving another year.  I, like so many others, will enjoy sitting down today with family and friends for a feast- and I will eat way too much.  There will be parades and football games to watch, and there will be the realization that the Christmas season is now officially here.   I realize that many USAmericans (technically, Canadians are Americans too.  So are Central & South Americans. I'm just saying...) manage to turn most every holiday into an excuse for patriotism, but I do not think of Thanksgiving as a day that belongs to God and country.  It simply belongs to God.  It is a day to give thanks for the many blessings in each of our lives, even in times when we do not feel as blessed as we might hope.  

I have always used a very simple exercise to help keep me focused on the meaning of this day, and I thought I would share it with you all today.  We used to sing a song at camp and youth group that went like this:

"Thank you, my LORD for the day, 

Thank you my LORD for they day.

"Cause you've given me your Son 

and you know I've just begun,

Thank you my LORD for the day."

We would sing those words over and over again, but each time through we would ask for suggestions on words to substitute for the words, "the day."  For instance, we might substitute "friends" or "turkey" or "family."  The list of things we were thankful for was usually endless. Each year on Thanksgiving I use this song as my morning devotion, taking time to list many of the things I am thankful for.  Taking time to thank God for our blessings is at the very heart of this day, whether you live here in Tampa, Florida or you live in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.  Today, even more than usual, we should remember the words of the psalmist in Psalm 118 when he tells us that "this is the day that LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!" Live today in God's glory, filled with the love and grace of Jesus Christ, and no matter where you are or what you are doing it will be Thanksgiving Day!  Be blessed!

Because of Jesus

Carl Jones

http://youthguy07.blogspot.com

Thanksgiving

Victor the 30lb Thanksgiving Behemoth. R.I.P.

So today is Thanksgiving Day here in Canada (don't ask me why) and I just realized I've barely posted anything yet this month! So I guess I'll write a post about Thanksgiving! Smart!

Every year at the beginning of October I tell myself that I should seriously get into the habit of being thankful all year round. I mean, the Scriptures pretty clearly tell us that it's a good thing, right? 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says we should "Rejoice Always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (NKJV).

I think it's really just too easy to get caught up in the things that are hard in life. This has been a difficult thanksgiving weekend for me because I had a really hard month in September, dealing with some really challenging faith issues and facing some disappointments that were really painful for me emotionally and spiritually. While I'm feeling better every day about that stuff, I still feel kind of weighed down by it, and I think that's totally okay. We need time to grieve the things we lose, but that doesn't mean we should dwell on them either. We need to find that balance between "oh, this sucks and I'm bummed" and "I have hope for tomorrow because Jesus is so amazing." It's not to say that we need to completely ignore the things that are hurting us, but we should definitely not allow them to bring us down to a point of hopelessness and depression.

This year, I'm thankful for so many things! Thankful for the way God is constantly working in me and through me. Thankful for the changes in my heart and my mind that His word is opening up to me. Thankful for the amazing ministries I'm involved with and all the lovely people they include. Thankful for meaningful relationships with friends and family, and for the love of God that lives within me and makes me a light in this world. And most of all, thankful for His perfect sacrifice and the huge implications that has on my life and the lives of everyone on this beautiful, messed-up planet we call home! :)

Blessings,