nxt7

sunday november 30

celebrate the feast! we gather back at the Undercroft to celebrate God's goodness to us, with food, coffee, tea, music, talk, friendship, worship and of course through sharing the Lord's Supper together. 5 pm

emerge's Red Hippo Arts Project

friday november 28

Namuwongo, Kampala, Uganda
a month in Namuwongo

we would like to invite YOU to see, taste, feel of some of what it was like to spend four weeks in Uganda.
Friday November 28th, 5-7pm
The Undercroft
625 Ste. Catherine West
(under Christ Church Cathedral)
slideshow, refreshments, children's art & photography

nxt7

sunday november 23

there is no gathering this sunday november 23 at the undercroft
instead we will gather at the old brewery mission to serve supper to a lot of hungry people. it is a really easy way to respond to Jesus' command to feed the hungry. afterwards we get to eat with the employees and other volunteers.
meet at metro Place d'Armes, St. Urbain Street exit at 4.15 pm sharp!

the OBM is at 915 Clark.
must be 12 years or older!

see you there!

thoughts from the nickosphere

"Special Offer!"

“Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10.38-39

“The wealthy would-be disciple was not the only person whose attachment to possessions proved a challenge to his commitment to Christ. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer, martyred by the Nazis, pointed out, the difference between us and the rich man in the story is that Jesus stood before him and did not allow him to reinterpret the Master's words in a more convenient manner. Bonhoeffer claims that the man's honesty in rejecting Jesus' command was better than disobedience that pretends to be obedience today (1963:88). He compares a boy told by his father to go to bed; the boy has studied theology, however, so he is now intelligent enough to reason, "Father tells me to go to bed, but he really means that I am tired, and he does not want me to be tired. I can overcome my tiredness just as well if I go out and play." But a child offering such arguments to his father would likely meet with language or an experience he would have to interpret more literally, as would a citizen with her government-or a disciple who reasons away God's demands. (Bonhoeffer 1963:90).”

Craig S. Keener

Leave your comments below...

tossed around at the planning meeting:

one of the things we talked about at a recent planning team meeting, was that people enjoyed using a worship stations approach, and someone suggested the theme of "discipleship" as a theme for an evening using worship stations.

most of us enjoy worship stations when someone else creates them, but feel as though "I couldn't do anything like that!" about it. so to give us some ideas of how we might approach this I have attached a file which I culled from a recent Mission Shaped Intro evening. please read it, and then think about how you could develop a station on discipleship. maybe you would want to work with a friend or two on this.

we will be using the stations on sunday november 16, so you have a week to work on it!

God bless,

Nick

nxt7

sunday november 9
"Hi we are going to do the bulk cooking next Sunday(9th Nov.) Thought Veggie Chilli. How many out there would be interested? Kick off would be 3pm at the Undercroft. We had a great time last time and made loads of soup and turned out very cheap."



"diving into scripture" or at least parts of it, is what we'll doing later that same afternoon! plus bread, soup, live music, coffee, friends, & prayer. starts 5 pm the Undercroft.


tuesday november 11
mission shaped intro : week 5
re-imagining church - leadership & discipleship

this sell out six-week course continues this tuesday at 7.15-9.30 pm.


wednesday november 12
emerge discussion group continues to ask itself brain-bending questions. watch out for Joan's email for time & location.


musicians & singers get together to play & sing (funnily enough!) 7.30 pm 3498 Harvard, NDG.

sunday november 16
worship stations (nothing to do with trains!)

defibulator

bigger is scarier

you can read Jorge Luis Borges' 1975 short story "The Book of Sand" online at this address: http://artificeeternity.com/bookofsand/complete.htm

no worries, it's really short. ;)

a bible salesman gives the protagonist a mysterious book he traded for a bible from an "illiterate hindu". the book has no begginning nor end and you can't find the same page twice. he tries to keep a list of llustrations but finds the page numbers are never in order and never repeat. he tries to flip back to the beginning but there's always a new page and you can never get back.

the book in the story is intended (we can surmise) as a foil for the nice, predictable scripture we like to think we have. full of comfort and answers, it never wrinkles our brow. right?

or is god's truth often a little more like the shifting book of sand? challenging, unexpected? disturbingly larger than our full understanding? and when so, isn't it easy to do with it what the protagonist does at the end of the story?