Author Archive: Craig

Prayer of the People, 19 June 2022

June 22, 2022 0 Comments

Heavenly Father,

We praise you and rejoice in your communion — the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Your delight and joy is evident in the beauty of your creation. We see your mystery and majesty expressed in the glories of the night sky and in the wonder of energy passing from  neurone to neurone between synapses. 

There is no space that has kept you from your Creation. We believe for you have revealed yourself. You have made yourself known. You have not left yourself without a witness. 

Even our sin has not kept you from us. Though it ruined our view, though it kept us in darkness, you have ripped the dividing veil through the obedience of Jesus Christ and have given us grace to receive you through your Spirit.


You have triumphed over rebellion.
You have triumphed over pride.
You have triumphed over sorrow.
You have triumphed over despair.
You have triumphed over apathy
You have triumphed over death..

At the Cross it looked like you got tripped up by death. But we are reminded that You laid down your life — for you gave Jesus authority to lay down His life and to take it up again. And so He did! And you have given us grace to call Him Lord.

Hallelujah! Oh what love! We live in the glory of your resurrection, Now what shall we say? If you are for us, who can be against us? So, how long Lord? How long shall we wait?


As we wait Lord, your children are calling out to you in our struggles. We intercede today for the dear people of Sudan, Yemen, Columbia, and Ukraine. Bring peace Oh Lord, and raise up witnesses for your Son among them.

We intercede Oh Lord for our brothers and sisters who living, serving, and pouring out their lives in the neighbourhood around Hastings Street here in Vancouver . We ask you for the grace to love neighours well. May your Spirit bring more life.

We intercede for the dear student families we met during the Acadia Food Hub who reside in the space between what they know and the One they don’t yet know. We ask that you would give them light and wisdom to see and to be embraced by You.

We ask this in the Name of Jesus and we pray as He taught us… ( join me in the Lord’s Prayer)
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one;
for yours is the kingdom,
and the power,
and the glory, forever.
Amen. 

Prayer

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Prayer of the People, 5 June 2022

June 9, 2022 0 Comments

Heavenly Father,

By Your costly grace we have been drawn into your communion — the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Our faith has found a resting place. We rest in you. In you we are restored and refreshed.

In you we have received a new vision for life and godliness.

Yet, we must not close our eyes like Jonah on the boat to Tarshish. You keep inviting us to see with you, and join you in the realities of life. Though we may run from You, You can locate us. Where can we go from your Spirit? Though we close our eyes you can wake us. Though we speak with guile in our hearts you can accomplish your Word.

Oh, Christ Jesus, we gladly surrender ourselves to your sovereignty. Your Spirit keeps pouring His love into us and so in the fierceness of your love and justice we will live. We have set our faces with Jesus towards the cities of your calling and our cross.

Fortify our hearts with your love. Establish the work of our hands Oh Lord. By your Spirit we join in the common struggle of following Jesus and being His people in a world that does not yet welcome your Kingdom.

We lift up to you our friends at the Athens Ministry Centre in Greece. Encourage them as they create a lighthouse of love for people on the journey for refuge.

We lift up to you our friends in the Association of Christian Clubs here at UBC. Deepen the conviction of students for the brilliance of Jesus and grant them courage for trusting you in every good work. Let us enjoy the unity of your Spirit in this community.

We lift up to you our friends in 24-7 Prayer in Vancouver and across Canada. Thank you for those who keep watch in the night and in places overlooked by most of us in order to minister in your name. Supply their need and strengthen them with your love so they may persevere.

Oh Lord we love you and ask you to give us wisdom. We open our lives to you and welcome your Spirit to breathe new life, peace and joy into us. Fill us with your Spirit. Fill us with your Word. Fill us with your songs!

Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one;

for yours is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory, forever.   
Amen.

Prayer

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Prayer of the People, 29 May 2022

May 31, 2022 0 Comments

A Call to Prayer between now and Pentecost Sunday, June 5th.

We have been in a season of prayer. As a church we see the signs that many of our friends and family are carrying anxiety in their bodies. We are asking each one of you to make a special effort to include a simple prayer in your personal and group disciplines of life as we seek the Lord for His grace and healing.

The Apostle Paul wanted the church in Rome to flourish. He writes to this diverse fellowship of believers: “…the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Let’s seek God for the flourishing of His Church. This week let’s pray together. “Lord, May Your joy come.”

The Prayer of the People

Heavenly Father, May Your Kingdom come. Thank you for the grace of faith that has brought us into your communion, the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Through the life, death on the cross, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you have displayed your love and your power over death. Jesus is Lord! He has poured out on us your promised Holy Spirit.

May the rule and reign of Jesus be evident in this church.

Lord, May Your joy come. (pause)

In my life… Lord, May Your joy come…(pause)

On this campus… Lord, May Your joy come… (pause)

In my work place and in my coworkers… Lord, May Your joy come…… (pause)

In my neighbourhood Lord, May Your joy come…… (pause)

In my family… Lord, May Your joy come… (pause)

In Vancouver… Lord, May Your joy come… (pause)


Lord we yield our lives to you and open our hearts to you. May the humility and strength of Jesus’ way be evident in our lives. We confess that you are Lord with sovereignty over our past, our present and our future. We shall not run from the cross, but rather we shall embrace it so that we meet you in it and joyfully anticipate that the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead shall also raise us.

(Join me in the Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one;

for yours is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory, 

forever.  Amen

Prayer

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Prayer of the People, 15 May 2022

May 16, 2022 0 Comments

A Call to Prayer between now and Pentecost Sunday, June 5th.

We have been invited into a season of prayer. As a church we see the signs that many of our friends and family are carrying anxiety in their bodies. We are asking each one of you to make a special effort to include a simple prayer in your personal and group disciplines of life as we seek the Lord for His grace and healing.

The Apostle Paul wanted the church in Rome to flourish. He writes to this diverse fellowship of believers: “…the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Let’s seek God for the flourishing of His Church. This week let’s pray together. “Lord, May Your righteousness come.”

The Prayer of the People

Heavenly Father, May Your Kingdom come. Thank you for the grace of faith that has brought us into your communion, the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Through the life, death on the cross, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you have displayed your love and your power over death. Jesus is Lord! He has poured out on us your promised Holy Spirit.

May the rule and reign of Jesus be evident in this church.

Lord, May Your righteousness come. (pause)
In my life… Lord, May Your righteousness come…(pause)
On this campus… Lord, May Your righteousness come… (pause)
In my work place and in my coworkers Lord, May Your righteousness come…… (pause)
In my neighbourhood Lord, May Your righteousness come…… (pause)
In my family… Lord, May Your righteousness come… (pause)
In Buffalo, Jennin, and Mariupol… Lord, May Your righteousness come… (pause)

Lord we yield our lives to you and open our hearts to you. May the humility and strength of Jesus’ way be evident in our lives. We confess that you are Lord with sovereignty over our past, our present and our future. We shall not run from the cross, but rather we shall embrace it so that we meet you in it and joyfully anticipate that the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead shall also raise us.

(Join me in the Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one;

for yours is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory, 

forever.  Amen

Prayer

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The Goose, The Plan, and The Dissenting Opinion

May 14, 2022 0 Comments

This week while making my way to UBC I came to a brief but dangerous standstill on 41st Avenue. In the approach to Cambie a driver had staddled two lanes and was stopping, starting, then stopping again and again. What the dickens?!

Then I saw him. A Canadian Goose had successfully stoped us. I’m not sure what he was protesting. The driver in the blue Subaru Forester was trying to shepherd the Goose to the side of the road. Like a western cattle rancher he applied force and size to drive the Goose away. But the Goose was having none of that. I smiled and nervously watched the approaching traffic in my rear view mirror.

Surely frustrated, the driver finally honked. Success. Something in the horn’s tone must have resonated with the Goose because he took off in a flash toward Cambie where he turned right toward City Hall.

The Broadway Plan

Did you hear about the Broadway plan? It’s all the rage as we plan for progress. Dense, denser, and densier.

I’ve been more interested in the minority opinion though. It calls for the Broadway Plan to be rejected. Expressed by Gabriella Peters and Ruby Langan, who serve as Commissioners with the Vancouver City Planning Commission they elevate their concerns to life and death. Perhaps it feels to some that they would stop progress, but that’s not their point. They want progress to include everyone. As I surmise their concerns are three-fold. 1. We are in an emergency. “Disabled people are dying now.” 2. The Broadway Plan provides lots of details on density but it doesn’t provide specific details for going beyond current inadequate building standards that harm the disabled. 3. The plan does not provide a plan that keeps us from creating a “poor door” out of the city for the current renters.

Here’s the Dissenting Opinion, please read it.

https://twitter.com/mssinenomine/status/1525189748716761088?s=20&t=liK5fK8vfkTuzoCoICu8jA

Minority Reports

Minority reports and dissent seem to stand in the way of progress or at least someone’s vision of security. Within the Scripture from which I speak each week, minority reports and dissent is the way of the prophets. To ignore their voice is to court disaster. Famously Joshua and Caleb provided a minority opinion when they urged Israel to trust God and enter into the land on the other side of the Jordan river; the majority said “no we will not go” and so they wandered in the desert for years. Not so famously Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah, supported by Meshullam and Shabbethal the Levite, opposed Ezra the priest and the assembly who sought to compel the men who had “foreign” wives to send the wives and children away; their dissent was noted but rejected and so a vision of God’s inclusion of people in covenant was reduced to blood lines for a time until Christ.

From within my faith tradition I see land, inclusion and visions of progress and security often contested. The record speaks for itself. However, I know of a church here in the Lower Mainland that listened to a minority report once. The whole body was voting to sell the land and call it a day at their location. But one child raised her hand and voted no. They stopped to listen. Imagine that! Progress was stopped by one child. They listened, reconsidered, and voted to stay put. Today this property hosts multiple congregations and is stewarded through a multi-ethnic and multi-congregational board. It’s not easy, but it’s glorious.

Will Vancouver listen? It’s hard for Gabriella and Ruby to be heard. As far as I can tell the Vancouver Sun has not brought their concerns forward to the general public. But the general public is having a hard time on any day to hear, listen, and be engaged in the many decisions shaping the future of Vancouver. We’ve got our heads down and we are trying to make sure our circles of comfort survive.

But at least we have Twitter.

Hear! Hear! I raise my morning coffee to Gabriella and Ruby.

Change, Leadership, Society

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