And made his dwelling among us. (John 1:14a)

So that was the theme of Urbana 09.  It’s been more than 2 weeks since I came back and I still haven’t really sat down to gather all my thoughts.  Anyways, here it goes..

Urbana was an inspiring and challenging experience.  That’s usually the short sentence I tell people when they ask me how it was.  It’s hard not to feel that way when you’re challenged through sermon after sermon, workshop after workshop, bible study after bible study to live a radically different life.  Although this was my second time going to Urbana, it was definitely  a great time for learning more about living out my Christian faith, about the way God is working around the world.  Although there were a lot of reminders and challenges, I want to share two things that I learned (or relearned) at Urbana this year (well, technically, it would be LAST year).

Lesson 1: Pray big and pray bold

During the Wednesday night session, one speaker (I think it was the Rexdale Alliance pastor) spoke on the topic of prayer, and specifically how to pray.  He started off by talking about how we often pray “cliche” prayers… We tell God things he already knows  i.e. “Lord, you know that so-and-so is out of a job.  And Lord, you know how hard it is.  Would you please help so-and-so get a job?  Thanks”  These cliche prayers lack faith - they are prayers that do not point to the power and sovereignty of God.  Our prayers demonstrate how view of who God is…if we think that he is the creator and sustainer of all things, why do we pray such little prayers?

Going back a bit, I think that many Christians (including myself), often do not spend time in prayer because well…is it really effective?  Does he hear and does he answer?  The bible has some excellent examples of God answering prayers.  Think about the Israelites crying out to God while they suffered under the iron fist of Pharaoh in Egypt.  God answered prayer by sending Moses to free his people.  Then there are characters like Hannah, a woman who was barren.  When God granted her plea for a son, it showed that he is a “God to whom no hurt is too trivial to demand his care” (John White in “Daring to Draw Near”).  But what I’ve been learning recently is that though God can answer prayer in favour of the person’s requests, prayer, is not so much asking God for stuff or even getting an answer…According to White, “true prayer is to respond to the true God as he reveals more of himself by his Spirit in his Word.”

Anyways, the speaker gave some really good practical advice.
1) First, set prayer on the sovereignty and fact that God is creator.  Prayer only makes sense if God is sovereign. Otherwise, what would be the point in praying?
2) Think about bible verses/characters in the bible that apply in this situation.
3) Pray for the unleashing of God’s power and creativity (unleash the person so that he can use creativity)

Example of a prayer of how we can make our puny prayer from before into a “good” prayer:

Heavenly Father, help Jon know that know that you are the sovereign God, in charge of the economy.  We pray that you would unleash his creativity and open new ways of using his talents.  We pray that you would use his creative powers to make new contacts.  We also ask that you would help Jon to be true to himself in the interviews - that he would not feel pressured to make himself something he is not.

Pretty neat eh?

Gosh this is getting long.

Lesson 2: Our mission can be best understood by the incarnation of Jesus Christ

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,^[d] who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

So what is the big deal about Jesus dwelling among us?  Why is the incarnation so important?

Well, the main speaker, Ramez, reminded me that the incarnation is the first, the means by which God reaches out to us!  “The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” Why did God send his son in human form?  It’s because God wanted to show us his love!  And what became way for this to be demonstrated than through sending Jesus became one of us, to talk like us, eat like us, fart like us (hehe), so that he would identify with us and show us that he loves us!

Secondly, the incarnation is the message and model that God wants to communicate with us.  Through the incarnation we see the glory of God, we see undeserved favour and grace.  This is the model that we should have in our our lives!  This means identifying to the brokenness of people around us, and taking on the shame of others, just as Jesus took on all our sin on the cross.  And just as people to drawn to the attractiveness of Jesus, the world needs to not see Christians as sad people, who are tied down by rules or whatever.  Other people should instead be drawn to us, because we reflect the loving character, beauty and “winsomeness” of Jesus.

I took a workshop called “Practical Justice 101″ - Living a lifestyle of Justice by Randy White where he elaborated on following an incarnational model might look like.  He gave three points on how we can DO justice instead of dabbling in it.

1) Displace onself - learn to acquire new skills.  This means making connections with persons suffering.  Displacement sends that message that you are willing to endure the crap of the neighourhood.  This could mean intentional relocation, attending meetings of groups you disagree with theologically, attending a church different than you in terms of ethnicity

For myself, I feel that God has strategically placed me in my neighbourhood for a reason.  Years ago, I really wanted to go out of this neighbourhood because I felt different and couldn’t relate to a lot of the people.  Since finishing my summer internship at TCM’s Malvern Sonshine day camp, I’ve been volunteering once a week at a “Pioneer Club” in my neighbourhood.  Basically, it’s like scouts, except “Christian” version…We sing songs, do arts and crafts, play games, and learn bible lessons.  (Kids can also work towards badges).  I feel like this is my way of reaching out to my community.

2) Dismantle - i.e. stereotypes, addictions, unhealthy ways of spending time/money.

For myself, this dismantling has been an ongoing process of healing and learning.  Sometimes we have unconscious racism…

3) Discovery - i.e. of gifts we didn’t know existed.  The call for justice is apparent throughout the bible, and it calls us to have a new perspective on poverty and a new way of seeing our city.  It should think about ways to leverage our privileges to change the system (of government, social services etc).

TAFN.  Sorry that this was so long…