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By Jean Jantzen and Jeff Patton
Circumcise a boy baby in San Francisco and you could face a year in jail under a proposed San Francisco bylaw that will be put to voters in November (“San Francisco Could Ban Circumcision,” Tristin Hopper, National Post, May 20, 2011). The article also stated that infant circumcision has been in rapid decline in the United States in recent years. In 2006, 56% of American newborns were circumcised. Just three years later in 2009 that number was only 32.5%. In Canada about 31% of newborns are circumcised each year according to a 2007 survey…
Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy. Sound familiar? It should ring a bell. God wants to go on a date with you at the end of the week, are you going to stand God up? Jeff Patton discusses the fourth commandment, and why it is so important for a Christian to remember.
Comments Off on In the Steps of Barnabas and Paul, Jeff Patton, by CGP.
Cyprus Journal –Preaching the Good News
Did you know that Joseph, later nicknamed Barnabas, was a levite born and raised in Cyprus? Jeff Patton recounts his Cypriot adventure and his thoughts on the journey of Paul and Barnabas to preach the gospel in Cyprus.
Cyprus Journal –Preaching the Good News
Sunday—January 16, 2005 We flew into Paphos, Cyprus, for our vacation about 8 o’clock at night in the midst of a winter storm complete with lightning flashes and blustery winds. After clearing immigration, the representative from the travel company cracked the expected jokes to the planeload of Brits about bringing in the bad weather so as to feel right at home. But then, maybe it was the five Canucks from British Columbia’s Vancouver Island who squeezed on board that were responsible for what would be our typical BC January weather blowing off the Pacific Ocean—wet but rather mild temperature-wise.
It was thrilling to come to Cyprus despite our thunder and blitzen welcome and to be on the island anciently known as Kittim, the reputed birthplace of the fertility goddess Aphrodite. So many exciting things happened here during the early days of the Church. It was here that a crucial opening act took place in the struggle for the hearts and minds of what passed as the civilized world—an ideological competition between a nascent Judeo-Christianity and the long-established, multicultural, pagan belief and philosophical systems of the Roman Empire. This island is where the apostles Barnabas and Saul launched their first missionary tour (Acts 13:4). More
Most Christians will readily admit that it is not good to swear or use God’s name as a “filler” for lack of something better to say. Yet the third commandment is concerned with matters far greater than the profane banter in the workplace or schoolyard. Jeff Patton delves into the scripture to bring to light God’s instructions on who bears His name and how His name is to be honoured.
The “clap” is now resistant to all of this world’s most powerful antibiotics. Anyone who knows something about the microbial world knew it would happen someday. It was just a matter of time. Yesterday, Dr. Magnus Unemo announced…
As we look forward to the Feast of Tabernacles let’s remember the lessons of previous festival seasons, and prepare for our best Feast yet.
Today’s sermon about “Does God hear your Heartbeat,” spoke to my heart and brought to mind the struggle I have with feeling loved by God. In the months before my father died, I would go with my youngest son, who was 6 years old, and give Grandpa a big hug and a kiss before bed. This had been my nightly ritual from my earliest childhood. But, in his last months, my usually undemonstrative Dad , perhaps as a way of saying goodbye if that night were to be his last, said every evening, “Always remember I love you. ” It was something that has stuck with me and made me realize in times of stress and difficulty that if my human father could speak to my need and know how much I needed to hear those comforting words, then my heavenly Father knows that and much more. The Feast in Kelowna in 1998 was one of those times of great stress for our family.
Though the Feast has not always been a happy time, the lessons learned are always valuable. One of my husband’s favourite little sayings about this time of year comes from a comic in the Jerusalem Post a few years ago. We Anglos wish each other a “Happy year” but the Jews wish each other a “Good year” and the punch line is, “What is good for us does not always make us happy! I have to acknowledge the wisdom of this in my life.
My most “memorable” Feast was a non-feast in many ways. It had begun poorly a week earlier when our church disfellowshipped us and said we would not be welcome at our planned feast site. We were never really told why, but we could surmise that they did not appreciate my husband for writing about the need to establish an impartial way of effecting justice in the churches of God. So now our feast plans were up in the air, and we were dealing with major emotional turmoil. The pastor, who had oversight of the feast site, was a good friend of ours and he said, “Y’all come anyway.” But we were just looking for peace and we knew that our presence would be a real red flag in front of the bull. No, we needed another option. Mom had talked to some of her friends and they had encouraged us to come join them at another feast site in the vicinity, so once that was settled we could carry on with our travel plans as anticipated. More
As we look forward to the Feast of Tabernacles let’s remember the lessons of previous festival seasons, and prepare for our best Feast yet.
There I was at Ambassador College in Bricketwood, England, and not feeling my normally confident, cheerful, nerdy self. I wasn’t happy and perhaps I was in denial about the source of my trouble.
There I was living my “dream,” one I had worked for since those days in summer camp 5 years earlier when I fell in love with my SEP counselors’ tales about college, and I learned about England from a campmate who was a bona fide Limey. But now, I was seventeen, had completed Grade 13 and was in England, the home of my ancestors. The campus had a wonderful rural, small town atmosphere that was just what I was looking for and I was already busily engaged in and enjoying classes and work.
But something was amiss. I had gained 15 lbs in just a few weeks, and I was feeling awkward in my new shape. Working in the kitchen with access to unlimited food, clockwork tea and biscuit breaks, and regular visits to the common room for Horlicks, ginger beer, the ubiquitous nuts and raisins, or gouda cheese could account for the changes. But there was something deeper. I had great roomies, interesting classmates, stimulating professors, but perhaps being quiet or shy outside the classroom setting, had hampered me in making new friends.
Then the feast came and the whole campus moved in a grand bus caravan to the holiday camp at the seaside town of Minehead on England’s west coast. Bus trips and I have never had a good relationship; I can still vividly remember in exquisite detail all the horrors of my two-day trip to SEP camp in Orr, Minnesota, during the height of the Detroit riots. I have since learned I have severe petro-chemical sensitivities that explains why diesel fumes puts me into a tailspin of nausea and vomiting. So I knew I was in trouble as I anticipated a day trip in a coach along winding English roads. More
