Christmas Time in Salmon Arm

Jannie and I were called to sit with Santa at the Christmas Party for the Adams Lake Band. We were called out with the other elders of the community. This was quite a surprise. It was an honor to be included with the community is such a visible way.

We led the community in singing Christmas songs. While singing, it occurred to me that you can get away with singing the Gospel story where speaking it would not be welcome. That gives me more to plan for next year. Perhaps, the Lord will open an opportunity for a speaking time, too.

Winter has arrived. We get a gentle snow almost every day. The picture on the left is the view from our kitchen window, looking east. The one on the right is the view from our front porch, facing north.

We had dinner with some elders recently. They told us how things used to be. How the community used to get together almost weekly. They used to play softball, but the softball field has not been used in three years. They used to get together and have potluck feasts. Now, the gatherings are catered affairs. As the elders spoke, their words bore a great weight of pain. Oh, that the old days could come back...but how? The welfare mentality is so prevalent and deeply ingrained. Instead of kids playing outside, parents buy them Playstation TV games, or an Ipod. Kids don't learn to interact and play with others, they are learning to isolate themselves. Twenty years ago, you could challenge kids with backpacking trips. Now, for the most part, we are encountering kids that are lazy. They don't want to be challenged. They want immediate gratification, and working for something, well...why do that? Why buy the cow if you can get it for free?

I can't fix a dysfunctional community, but I believe that if I can do something, I should do it. So, we submit our efforts with the Creator's Talking Circle in prayer to the Lord and pray that He will do a miracle in the lives of these children that come to the meetings. The kids seem to enjoy it, and we have enough adult staffing to make it work.

Starting in January, we will be directing our thoughts to the Spring and Summer months. We will be evaluating each reservation and community to see what opportunities may be available. We did a lot with the Adams Lake Band in 2007, but we don't want to miss opportunities with the Squilax Community, the Tappan Community, and new opportunities with the people 30 minutes to the south, in Enderby. We expect another week of canoeing with the excellent help we have received from Rick, John, and Steve from Racine, Wisconsin. Two other churches have expressed an interest in sending out short term missions teams to share in the work here. While that is good news, it means a lot of planning from this end. This is a cross-cultural ministry. At the moment, we don't have construction projects for volunteers to focus on. So, if people want to come out here on a short term trip, they need to accept some training so that they can engage the Shuswap culture with respect. Developing long distance training programs and implementing them take additional time and effort. So, January will be a time of evaluation and adjustment. We need to keep on building relationships, but we also need to assume more of a supervisory role, too. May the Lord assist and direct us in being responsive to all that He is doing! :)

Recent Updates

Tis a season full of opportunities. Christmas and Easter are great opportunities to naturally open conversation about spiritual themes. We plan to lead music and carol singing for the Adams Lake Band Christmas party. Children that attend the Creator's Talking Circle will join us in singing. I have a brief contextualized Christmas message ready, incase I get the chance to share it. That is for Sunday afternoon.

Jannie is baking up a storm! Last year, we delivered 30 plates of Christmas cookies to various homes on the Reserves. This year, she is talking about 50 plates to deliver! (It is a good time for me to stay out ot the kitchen.) :)

We had a Bible study with Lori on Thursday. At the time of the house clearing, I told her that it is common for spirits to come back and see if they could regain their place. So, I asked her if they had come back. She said, "Yes, for about four days, they tried."

"What happened?", I asked.

"Well," she started, "each night I would lock up the house. That meant locking the door knob lock and the dead bolt. In the morning, I would find the front door unlocked and ajar."

"So, what did you do?", I asked. I had hoped that the house clearing was a training time for her so that she could take charge as learn that she had authority over evil spirits.

She answered, "I prayed over that area and over the whole house. I told the spirits to leave and not come back. Since then, the door stays locked all night."

May God bless us all, each and every one. :)

Creator's Talking Circle Christmas

When the world was new, all was good. It was perfect! Something happened to change it to the world we have today.
An Evil spirit being called the Light Bearer, tricked our first parents. Light Bearer told the first people that they could be happier if they didn’t worship the Creator.
The first people, named Adam and Eve, listened to the lie, and for a moment, they rebelled from Creator.
This rebellion made their hearts twisted and sick. No longer did Adam and Eve get along. They became selfish and angry. All the generations were born with this sickness and they fought each other and even killed each other.

The good spirit helpers looked on with horror at what was happening to the earth and people. What could be done? The rebellion caused by the first people deserved punishment. Creator had warned Adam that if he rebelled, he would suffer death. So, death was the punishment for man’s rebellion.

Creator watched as people tried to fix their twisted hearts. People made many religions. Every religion hoped that it might restore the broken relationship with Creator. All the religions had lots of rules. Many religions tried to show devotion by shedding blood. Sometimes animals were sacrificed, sometimes humans were sacrificed. All those efforts were to try to pay for the offence of rebellion against Creator.

Creator looked down at the suffering of man and He felt sad. The religions man created only increased suffering.

To the great surprise of all the spirit beings, both good and evil, Creator had a plan to help the earth and people. He decided to come to earth himself and live with the people.

Creator could have come to earth, floating down from the sky with great ceremony. He could have come to kings, chiefs, and the powerful rulers. He could have come to speak with the smartest people. Instead, Creator chose to come to a small nation of only 8,500 square mileswhich was much smaller than the territory of the Secwepemc Nation. He chose to come into the world through birth. He chose to experience what it was to be like you and me.

Two thousand years ago, Creator came to earth as a baby. His name was Jesus, which means Creator Saves. But he didn’t stay a baby in a manger. He grew to become a man, so he could do for mankind, what we could never do for ourselves. He came to be a sacrifice to pay for the rebellion of Adam and Eve, and you and me, their children.

There is a lot of suffering in this world: bullies, fighting, war, and broken homes. Jesus came to fix the relationship between us and Creator. He also came to help us fix the relations we have with each other. Christmas, the coming of Jesus, is the best gift of all.

Rescheduled House Clearing

"Lori" connected with us and explained that she had been detained from making the appointment on Thursday. She expressed a desire for us to come over and help deal with the spirit activity at her house. So, we plan to go there tomorrow, Monday morning.
I'll update the blog with the results of the Monday meeting as soon as I have news to report.

We had the meeting with Lori today. We had a topical Bible Study on the subject of spiritual warfare first. It was important to present a Biblical cosmology on the topic, as the Native cosmology is quite different. We examined what the Bible had to say about the origins of sin, and demons. We presented a simple but clear understanding of what the Gospel message was. Lori affirmed a personal faith in Jesus Christ and we went on to the house cleansing.

We presented her with some clear teaching about spirit activity and how to deal with it. She also had information of how to break ancestral curses that might be a problem. We plan to have a Bible study on Thursday in the Gospel of John.

Thanks to everybody for their prayer support. The peaceful meeting was probably a result of all the prayers in support of this event. Thanks again!!