Perspectives with Rev. Duncan Perry

 

Jesus is full of surprises

When you read the stories about Jesus, you read that he was full of surprises. Sometimes they were happy surprises, sometimes they angered people.

A favourite story is the wedding he went to where the hosts ran out of wine. No problem. Jesus turned water into wine. 

A little while later he showed  up at a kind of hospital and a lame man he healed just got up and walked out. 

One of the wildest things he did was turn up at funerals and bring the dead back to life. Pretty surprising stuff.

But not all of his surprises were appreciated. Early on in his work, he showed up at the temple (the ‘church’ of his day). Surprise! He found the worship there corrupt and materialistic and made quite a stir. He chased out the animals being sold, overturned the tables of people exchanging money, and blasted the merchants who were there.

Jesus also surprised people by whom he hung out with. They expected him to hang out with the clergy and other religious types. 

But for the most part he didn’t. He didn’t like the way they performed their religious duties to put on a show. How they made long prayers to impress others, wore fancy robes, and looked for respect and honour. But mostly he found them too proud and full of themselves to be open to his free gift of grace (see Luke 18:9-14).

Even when it came to regular folk, he still surprised everyone. He didn’t usually spend his time with or even respect ‘good’ people. 

Instead he kept company with those looked down on in his day: prostitutes, tax collectors, and the non-religious. The way he put it was that it wasn’t the healthy who needed a doctor, but the sick (see Matthew 9:9-13). He really was full of surprises.

If Jesus was on earth today, I think he’d still be full of similar surprises. He might still have some serious issues with us ‘religious types.’ Ouch. 

I think he’d still be looking to hang out with those who would least expect him to. People who are rough around the edges, people who never darken the doorway of a church. People who seem to have it all together, but inside are looking for more in life. People who are hungry for something real.

Back in Jesus’ day it was those the world thought least likely to be of interest to him, that he reached out to. I’m sure it would be the same today. 

The chances are good that Jesus is not about to physically show up at our work, home or school, but he is still very much alive and well and among us in spirit. He’s still looking for people to love, to forgive, to befriend. Are you one of those people? Am I?

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A Farewell Perspective

We’ll be driving down the Trans-Canada soon on our way to serve a church in B.C. As we go, we’ll be taking tons of great memories with us; actually we’ll be taking lots of South Dundas with us.

From the moment we arrived here late one February evening, we knew we were in a special place. Not only had our good church people cleaned the house we bought from top to bottom, but they’d unpacked the moving van, set up all our furniture, and even made the beds for our family of four!

 Since that day, we have been touched by how friendly and neighbourly the people of this community are. Like the time my neighbour across the street let me run over a hundred feet of my extension chords from his generator to my sump pump in a power outage. Or the time one half of my maple tree split away and came crashing down while we were on vacation, and I came home to only a few small branches. All the rest was cut up and taken care of by another dear neighbour.

Mostly we’ve just appreciated all the good ‘salt of the earth’ type people we’ve rubbed shoulders with here. Like at South Dundas Soccer or at my Tuesday night hockey. Or the many business owners and trades people who we’ve dealt with. Just good people. People who will be hard to replace, like a carpenter who consistently goes the second mile, or a plumber whose service is amazing, or a mechanic who just treats you right.

South Dundas’ greatest asset is its people, but there’s so much more that we’ve enjoyed like its beauty, history, and of course the St. Lawrence. I don’t think we realize how unique it is to have so many beaches, parks, and access points along the river. I have spent countless hours up our road at Duncan Park. It’s a gem.

It will be difficult to say good-bye as we end our ministry here at the end of May. I’ve been blessed to serve a wonderful church. My wife has enjoyed (usually) driving a school bus for most of our time here. Our children attended the first 12 years of their schooling here and have made some super friends.

So hopefully you can see why I say that we’ll be taking much more with us down the highway than just our stuff. We’ll be taking something of this community. And as we move on I hope that we also leave something behind. More than just the stuff we’ve given away. I hope that we’ve had an impact. 

It’s my hope that some of us have come to see their need to know God’s love and the salvation that’s available in Jesus. Nothing would thrill me more than that we’ve left behind people who have come to know Jesus or have grown closer to him. 

Whether it was through the Perspectives articles that I’ve written, the work done with Love South Dundas or my work through Community Christian Reformed Church, when all is said and done, nothing matters more in life and for eternity than that we come to receive Christ as our Saviour and Lord.

Thanks for being a fantastic community to live in these past 14 years. Thanks for being part of our lives and thanks for letting us be part of yours.

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Loving Spring

I just read a cute story about gratitude that I think can teach us something. 

Apparently in San Francisco, on the day after Christmas, the pastor of a church was looking over their nativity scene when he noticed that the baby Jesus was missing from among the figures. “That’s strange,” he thought. “Who would steal Jesus?” 

He hurried outside to try and find the thief and what he came across was a little boy with a red wagon, and in the wagon was the figure of the baby Jesus. 

He walked up to the boy and said, “Well, where did you get Him, my fine friend?” The little boy replied, “I got him from the church.” “And why did you take him?” The boy said, “Well, about a week before Christmas I prayed to the little Lord Jesus and I told him if he would bring me a red wagon for Christmas I would give him a ride around the block in it.”

I like the story. Well, not that I think it’s cool to steal Jesuses or even to pray to figurines. I like it because of what it teaches us about gratitude. 

I respect the little guy in the story first for being grateful for what he received and for following up on his promise. 

We can learn from that. To be grateful and appreciative for all that people do for us and that we receive. And also to be grateful for all that we receive from God.

It’s spring. The snow is gone, the sun is warm, the bird’s are back, and everything around us is simply glorious. We get out to walk, to bike, even to garden, to enjoy it. 

Our little story can remind us to give thanks to the God who provides all this. This is his world, and it’s him who provides the wonder of spring. And so it’s him who deserves our thanks and praise. 

Have you, have I, given thanks for spring?

One more thing. If we enjoy the beauty and wonder of creation and spring, maybe we could also use a reminder that the One who provides it has something still better for us. Something still more glorious and wonderful, namely, himself.

All the good things God gives are a reflection of what he is like. They’re an invitation to us all to get to know him.

Being a Christian seems to be less attractive these days. People see it as restricting their fun and freedom. Hardly. 

Instead we ought to see it as it is. To believe in Christ is to be reconciled to God and to enter a relationship with him. You see, if you love spring, if you love creation (God’s gift), believe me, you’ll love the Giver.

Pastor Clarence Witten

Community Christian 

Reformed Church

Dixon’s Corners

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