Last night our little team at the open house went to St. John’s Shaughnessy to attend a Anglican service.

I have to say it was quite beautiful. There was endless Christmas Hymns and choruses, as well as powerful readings of the Christmas story, and i have to say Anglican churches just get me in the mood for reverence. (A funny side note for my friend Justine, who grew up Anglican, and is a priest in the Anglican Church, she tries to stay as far away as she can from the tradition, and prefers to do church in coffee shops. I think it’s my un-churched background that lets me appreciate the tradition in small doses.)

Anyway aside from all the beauty and awesomeness that seems to be portrayed in the service, I was a little disappointed in the message. Don’t get me wrong I am not slamming the message itself, it actually was very inline with what I expected, but it’s what’s contained in it that makes me wonder where we get our information.

What I mean is that the speaker, amongst his message about shepherds, and Jesus in a manger, went off about how horrible our world is, and how Jesus had to come back because of the mess we had made of it. Now I am not totally in disagreement to this fact, but the way it came out was as if everybody in our world see’s it this way, and everybody is crying out for Jesus to save them from their brokenness. Well, somebody failed to tell the people I keep meeting. Many of them, humble enough not to say they have it all together, see such beauty in our world, and are really trying to share that with others. They don’t feel as if they need saving, or as if this world is a write off, in fact they believe they can have a part in saving it!

Although this is not proper theology, I have to say, could some of these people that I am encountering be more onto what Jesus had in mind when he came to earth 2000 years ago?

John 3:17 – For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Seems like a lot of condemnation to me, and little hope. I think it’s good to hope!