Author: Wick

This year may be different.

After the NHL Lockout a few years back, they installed a salary cap for NHL. Everyone believed this would “level the playing field” between newer, less talented, and less popular teams, and teams like the Detroit Redwings.

For several years now, it seems as if the cap had no effect on the Wings. Their talent has remained. Their big names have remained. Their ability to humble their opponent has increased, even.

But in the past few days, some things have changed. Hoping that in regard to the categories above, all we’ve lost are some names. But these are big names to have lost, unfortunately.

Names like Hossa, Kopecky, Sammuelson, Chelios, Conklin, and perhaps a few more before the dust settles.

My opinion? What we’ve lost in names, we make up for in the names and new meat that remains. We have a coaching and scouting staff that exceeds the abilities of most to select players that match the legacy of Detroit. This will definitely be an interesting year. As we say goodbye to this many great players for the first time since the beginning of a salary cap, I believe we’ve finally entered into a new era for the Wings.

But an era we can win a cup in, for sure.

(though I wish Hossa and Kopecky had gone to a less talented team. Hawks – looking forward to see if you can touch the cup next year.)

From Gateway Conference Leadership Summit, distributed by Bishop David Kendall. These are important questions for our churches, and the Church to be praying over….

Does the community know we are there? Would they miss us if we suddenly weren’t? How long before they noticed?

What kind of press has church had AS church lately?

Are we known for joy and hope, even and especially in hard times?

Are we known for God’s standards of morality & righteousnses? Do WE take them seriously, insist on them, hold ourselves accountable to them, and restore our own when they violate them? (or are we just telling everyone else how to live?)

Does the church engage in finding people – lost but cherished missing so far as God the Father is concerned?

Is the essential flow outward toward people in need of what only their God provides?

When people visit, do they detect God, something they can’t explain which though weird still intrigues and draws them? (Do WE sense this when we’re together?)

Do we make a place that convinces we are not alone? That God is real, present, and taking us somewhere?

When we work on budget, or make hard decisions, is the atmosphere sweet or tense?

Can we be REAL here?

Is it OK not to be perfect, and not OK to be unforgiving?

Can we laugh AND cry together? Laughing at ourselves, and anguishing over what Jesus cried over?

Are we praying for the Church’s sanctification with Paul? (1 Thess. 5:23)

Does our work trace back to the presence and power of the God who created all things out of nothing and resurrects the dead?

Something Bishop Kendall said last week caught my attention. He was speaking on the topic of the health of a church. It was surprisingly simple, as far as phrases go. But it struck a chord in me.

It’s probably obvious by the title of this post, the two-word phrase he used was “Supernaturally Natural”.

That our churches, that our conference, our denomination, but even more so that the Church would become a place, and a people, where things once considered “Supernatural” become regular, but still not common. He may have even said that, I’m not sure.

I may have latched onto it, simply because of the sermon I was going to preach that Sunday, about us being “awe-full people”. But it’s something I’ve thought about a lot lately, especially in regards to what is missing in much of the work of the Church. And it is not necessarily about blind people seeing, or lame people walking. It’s about existing from, loving towards, and allowing the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ to bring resurrection Life to our moment by moment existence.

The interactions we have with our friends, or family, strangers, and even our enemies – can be sourced in, and flow from and towards, Jesus Christ. Our response/reaction in any given situation can be influenced greatly, and wholly in supernatural ways – if we have invited the Spirit of God to be our source.

When is the last time you or I were involved in something that could only be explained to others by something to the effect of, “The Spirit of God/Love of God/Grace of God/Holiness of God compelled me to do it.”?

Because there are certainly other people out there making these claims. We’ve seen enough abortion clinics bombed, enough (teen moms, divorced Christians, unfaithful spouses, homosexuals, smokers, untucked shirt wearers, smelly people, etc.) made to feel unwelcome to attend or serve a church, enough people killed, enough publicity stunts and political moves made – all in the name of God’s love.