For five years I served as the Conference Parliamentarian. That meant I was the expert in church law, and if any question or challenge arose it was my function to immediately give the President reference to the relevant section of church law in order to make a ruling. So I am intimately acquainted with the hundreds of pages of laws and by-laws and regulations and protocols and practices and policies of The United Church of Canada. Serving as an Anglican priest I became familiar with canon law. Serving in a Presbyterian congregation I learned the Book of Forms (for all the good it did me).

But none of these even reflect, much less constitute, the divine expectation for the Body of Christ. Read more…

So today I heard more about the growing number of people who reply to surveys about religious affiliation as “none”. The CBC radio show Tapestry investigated this on the show this afternoon.

In the US about 30% of younger people use this description, while in Canada that number is more like 25%. However, for the whole population the number is about the same for both countries at 20%.

And there is a new name for some in this category, SBNR’s. Read more…

The early followers of Jesus referred to their cause as The Way which we know from a legal argument Paul made in court: “These people cannot even prove their accusations to you. But I’ll admit to you that I’m a follower of the way {of Christ}, which they call a sect” (Acts 24:13-14 God’s Word). The Jewish leadership called it the “Nazarene sect”, certainly a pejorative term containing both ethnic and religious bigotry.

Today we use the term “Christianity” to refer to people who belong to that religion which has roots in Jesus Christ. Read more…

Remember, Saul, who later changed his name to Paul to indicate his changed life, persecuted the followers of Jesus. Something that gets glossed over all the time is that he did so under the watchful eye of the religious institution. Even more, the religious leaders wrote a letter of authority so that Saul could go to other countries to persecute believers.

Saul even authorized, on at least one occasion, the murder of a believer (Stephen). Stephen’s crime was, well, that he didn’t believe the right thing. Stephen was not convicted of a criminal offense, a social abuse or failure to live up to his potential. The only “crime” Saul accused him of was believing in Jesus Christ as Saviour. Read more…

Jesus makes light the burdens of trouble. Put your shoulder to the plow Jesus offers and get so much help it feels like you don’t have a yoke on at all. “Come to me, all who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Place my yoke over your shoulders, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble. Then you will find rest for yourselves because my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30 God’s Word). Read more…