So we at True North are all pretty bummed about not being able to have church tomorrow. We had Pastor Dan O’Leary of Arise Community Church in the hopper to bring the message and I’m pretty disappointed about not being able to hear him.

Maybe you’re feeling some of the same, or maybe (to be honest) you’re a little relieved and are looking forward to a long Sunday in your pajamas. Rock on. I totally understand.

Here’s a couple of ideas for keeping the sabbath holy right in your own living room. Call it a “Do it yourself” church kit. Maybe it’ll serve as a little reminder that ‘church’ isn’t a building. It’s people. You don’t need a brick and mortar facility to connect with God. All you need to do is talk to Him!

You don’t really NEED any help with any of this. I’m sure you’re smart enough to figure out how to honor God with your time tomorrow. But just in case you’re looking for a couple of ideas for your family, here’s a couple of resources that might help you re-create a little ‘True North’ in your home:




You can download some great worship music from our band here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/volume-one/id274921986

Watch a message that you missed or just listen to one:

http://www.ustream.tv/user/truenorthcc/videos?page=1

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/true-north-community-church/id81600961

And honor God with your finances and give your offering right here:
http://www.truenorthchurch.net/give

** This is one of those Sundays when we really appreciate your generosity as True North is primarily funded by the offerings we receive on Sundays.


Close your service by praying for those who may have been displaced by the storm and ask God to watch over the police officers, firemen, EMT’s and hospital workers who are serving others during this crisis.




And you can do the whole thing in your pajamas!! Pretty cool, no?

Hope you have a great sabbath day. Be safe, and enjoy the time with your family.

See you soon.

Bert

Thanks so much!! May the Lord bless you and keep you safe.

Gang, saw this article from CNN earlier today and thought it was really worth sharing. Enjoy.

“Bitterness is a nasty solvent that erodes every good thing,” an Emory associate professor of psychiatry told CNN.

(CNN) — Kevin Benton had every reason to feel bitter.

During his sophomore year in college, he says, white students harassed him and the only other African-American living on the floor in his dorm in order to get them to move out.

The white students spat on their doors, tore their posters off the wall, and banged on their door at four in the morning. When Benton brought up the problems at a dorm meeting, the other students snickered.

“I felt like I was being bullied, being targeted,” he says now of his college experience 19 years ago. “I knew I couldn’t retaliate in any way or I’d lose my basketball scholarship.”

This was the first time in his life Benton had encountered racism and it hit him hard. He had trouble sleeping, and then over the next several months he suffered panic attacks. Admitted to the hospital, he was found to have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or thickening of the muscles in the heart. The disease is the leading cause of heart-related sudden death in people under 30.

So sick he couldn’t walk, Benton lay in his hospital bed bitter and resentful.

“I thought to myself, ‘I’ve never hurt anybody. I serve in the community. I work with youth. I wrestled with God — why did this happen to me?’” he remembers.

Read More…

Hey gang,

I’m taking some vacation time with my family these next couple of weeks and won’t be posting any new content.

Also, won’t be checking inbox again until 8/15 so messages will go un-returned until then.

Thanks for your patience. And if I may be so bold, take some time soon to unplug from all social media and email for a while. It feels wonderful once you kick the addiction!

Bert

My wife and I had a really fantastic date night this week. Our church was contacted via email about an off-broadway show called Freud’s Last Session, which we attended on Tuesday night.

According to his personal journals, Sigmund Freud, the father of modern psychoanalysis, once had a session with an Oxford University English Professor whose identity was not recorded. It happened around the time when Christian Theologian (and former atheist) C.S. Lewis was teaching at Oxford. So although nothing is know for sure, there exists the possibility that these two actually met and conversed.

This play is an account of what that encounter might have been like.

Freud, a staunch atheist, was suffering from mouth cancer at the time and Lewis (who went on to write such classics as The Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters) was at least 20 years his junior.

The dialogue between these two is amazing. It’s intellectual, but by no means is it hard to follow or pretentious. Humor abounds. There were several parts where the actors’ body language alone had the whole audience laughing.

There was no “winner” in their verbal tete-a’-tete but I don’t think I’ll be spoiling anything if I share that Lewis had the last word. The conversation is set against the German invasion of Poland and the subsequent bombing of London during WWII.

Suffice it to say Jen and I both really enjoyed the play are are still talking about it. I highly recommend it.