Salvogesis

Busy time at The Salvation Army! And only getting busier now until Christmas is done! Yesterday was the Toy Run. We were blessed to be able to prepare and serve chili and hotdogs. We were blessed to be able to pick up a cube van full of toys. We were blessed to say the prayer and ask the blessing before the riders rode.   Last weekend was the fall fair and the parade. Thank you to everyone who helped out. We were blessed to be able to have  a booth and we were blessed to have a float and our mobile kitchen (CRU) and a number of walkers in the parade. Thank you!   The weekend before that was Salmon Fest. We were blessed to be able to run the bullhead derby and we were blessed with rods and lures to be able to hand out to kids who were fishing.   We, of course, were blessed to help our community and Parksville / Qualicum with the fire relief as well this summer.   Next up: in a couple of weeks we have Men’s Camp and the Thanksgiving food drive. We are blessed to b...

Exodus 12:24-27: 24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped.   1 Corinthians 11:23-25: 23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”   We saw a lot of neat things on our trip recent trip to Ontario. We sa...

Do you ever get the idea that God is trying to tell you something? There might be something He is trying to teach me about Exodus 17:1-7. In a span of a couple of days, we read Exodus 17 in our family devotions, it was the text at a service we went to at the Gospel Hall, it showed up in my personal devotions, and was referenced in the lectionary when I was looking for texts to preach on the other week. With all of these hints I thought I should spend some time reflecting on this passage this week; so that is what we are doing today. And, if I had any lingering doubts this morning, 7 years ago today I saw in my Facebook memories that I congratulated a friend on preaching a great sermon on these exact verses!    The people are grumbling about God to Moses in Chapter 17 because they have nothing to drink. And In Chapter 16, they were grumbling about God to Moses because they had nothing to eat – Is God a waiter to bring them food and drink? Or is God the cook and Moses the wa...

I read this verse this week as we are (hopefully) seeing the end of the Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic in the not too distant future. The Lord has certainly rescued many people in our community here through the efforts of many people and agencies including The Salvation Army food bank and the Bread of Life Soup kitchen. The Bread of Life Centre was also rescued by the Lord through this pandemic. In the months before the pandemic, the Bread of Life was broke. It had gone through a number of Executive Directors in a short period of time. The end of their long history of ministry to the community seemed like it was coming to an end. A couple of members of their board came and spoke to me at The Salvation Army about the possibility of the Army absorbing the Bread of Life. Through many months of discussions, we then agreed instead to an operational agreement. The Bread of Life would continue to exist. The Bread of Life would recommit to its Christian roots, heritage, and mission. The Salvati...

I am a Rotarian and this week I am speaking at one of the Rotary clubs in town. While thinking about this I was reminded of   a harrowing story I heard at the Swift Current club about a family vacation that Dave, one of the members, took in Acapulco in 1968: Dave and his wife are on holiday down in Mexico. They check into their hotel. They are near the ground floor and there are these little lizards - Geckos or something else – climbing all up the walls; so they speak to the hotel and ask to be moved as far away from the lizards as they can, up to the top floor. They do move up to the top floor. This turns out to be a mistake. In the middle of the night, they are woken up as people are running through the halls screaming. Some girls from Quebec tell them what is happening: the hotel is on fire. The stairs, they are concrete for the top few floors and then wood beneath and the wooden stairs are ablaze. The girls from Quebec jump over the railing from the 10 th storey or more up...

Now we can understand how Pharaoh would not be so happy, seeing defeat snatched from the jaws of victory in this way as the work of his magicians, sorcerers, and wise men is gobbled up before his very eyes. You can understand how he would be more than a little upset. Now this upsettedness is further exasperated. Have you ever seen those Egyptian headdresses? Picture King Tut – he’s a famous pharaoh. What does his headdress – his hat – what does it look like? – A Snake, a Cobra. Pharaoh has just not only seen all these snakes eaten by the staff of this guy who was run out of the kingdom decades ago but he has also seen this powerful symbol of his family, this powerful symbol of himself, and this powerful symbol of his whole country mocked and devoured before his eyes. It would be like if we went to visit this or any president of the United States and suddenly chopped up and burned and American flag right in front of him; what would he do? At the very least he would have us arrested;...

Again let us picture this scene together. There could possibly be a very packed room with Pharaoh, his officials and possibly a whole bunch of wise men, sorcerers and even magicians here (cf. 2 Timothy 3:8).[7] It may even be like us in this room today. Imagine that Pharaoh is sitting or standing up by me here. Imagine that these two men in their 80’s throw this staff on the ground in front of us here and it becomes a snake and then either one-by-one or all-at-once the person beside you and everyone around you - these many wise men, sorcerers and even magicians - they throw their canes on the ground and there are all of a sudden all these snakes crawling everywhere. This is what it would be like. Now imagine that this snake up here sees all of the others down there and one-by-one goes and fights and eats those 20, 30, 40, 10 or however many other snakes there are sliding around on the ground.[8] That is the visual image of this first sign for Pharaoh. I’ve been in a snake pit or two ...

Exodus 7:8-13: The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,  “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.” So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said. There are a number of items and ideas that jump out at one as we read through this sign that God performs for Pharaoh through Moses and Aaron. 1)        We notice that not only can God do this sign but so can wise men, sorcerers and even Egyptian magicians. They can all turn their sta...