The Crissy Doll... the rest of the story ;)

On Sunday we began a new sermon series entitled “WWJND: What Would Jesus Not Do”, and I shared a story with you about a cherished doll.  I did not however, finish the story.  So here goes:

When I was young I had a doll that I loved.  It was a Crissy doll.  She had hair that grew out of the top of her head by pushing a button on her back.  Now that I write this it sounds rather creepy, but I loved her.  I took her everywhere.  She only had one outfit, an orange dress that clashed with her auburn hair but that didn’t matter. She was beautiful.  I would spend hours changing her hair style - long then short, short then long and back again, making her outfits and just plain loving her.

My uncle came to visit from India, and he saw how I loved playing with Crissy.  He thought that his daughter (my cousin Salina) would love her too.  He was packing up to leave for the airport when he said he wanted to stop by a store and pick one up, but there wasn’t time. 

So a dreaded thing happened.  

He asked me if he could take my Crissy doll to India to give to Salina, assuring me that my mom would buy me another one.  I was six or seven at the time and I clung onto Crissy like she was a life preserver.  I didn’t have the nerve to say “no” but I did not want to let her go.

My mom, trying to be hospitable to her older brother encouraged me to release Crissy into the hands of my uncle.  I did.  I was heartbroken. I don’t think my mother or my uncle ever understood how much I loved Crissy. “It was just a doll, after all”. 

I released her out of love and respect for my elders.  As it happens, we didn’t have the extra money to spend on the luxury of replacing a doll. That was the last time I saw Crissy until years later when we went to visit our family in India.  I found Crissy on the floor of a dark closet.  Her hair had been chopped off, her eyes were gouged out, her beautiful face was covered in ink marks, her orange dress torn, barely covering up that she was missing an arm and a leg. It was like a scene from a horror movie!  I couldn’t speak. I was so upset with my cousin for not appreciating the love that was wrapped up in this doll.

Life goes on, as it does. “It was just a doll, after all”, I would say to myself. But as you have already figured out I never forgot about that doll.  The sacrifice I made (and for the sacrifice to be ignored) was enough to leave an indelible mark.

Flash forward many, many years to the era of the internet and eBay.  Brian, having heard my sad tale (more than once) found my beloved Crissy online and purchased her for me.  She wasn’t new, for Pete’s sake she was a 40 year old doll, but she was perfect, just as I remembered her before she left my arms. Silly isn’t it for me as a grown woman, with two children of her own, to find peace in this amazing gesture. It was restoration.

Since Easter, I have been thinking a lot about the unconditional love of God and God’s desire to be with us, and how God, more than anything else, wants restoration with us.  

Sometimes it is hard for us to receive undeserved love, so we try to earn it. But try as we might, we can’t.  We don’t need to. God’s love doesn’t work that way. What God has done for us by sending Jesus to die on the cross, the ultimate sacrifice, God did for love.  For you and for me. Instead of trying to understand it, or deserve it, or pay for it, God just wants us to receive it and say, “Thank you.” When we do that, God's love begins to change us.

Poolside "Ping"

(Posted on Thursday, May 2, 2019)

Ping

Ping

Ping

“Ping”, the sound of alerts on my cell phone that notify me that I have an email, or maybe someone has liked my status on Facebook or Instagram, or it could be a notification that the Jays got a run.  Oh the sweet, heart jarring, “ping” that keeps me connected... all the time.

But we know that that’s not always good.  

Sometimes it’s okay to turn off the alerts.  To even put away the smartphone.  To actually share dinner with a loved one without looking down at at our laps every 10 minutes.  Why do we do that??  I love technology like the next guy but sometimes I wonder about how this amazing technology is affecting our lives. 

I am actually writing this poolside of a lovely resort and I am amazed how every single person sitting around the pool have had their phones out.... sure some are reading books (real ones) but it is, as I look around, that they, like me, are stirred to reality from their fictional world by the sound of an alert.

We don’t talk about rest much in the church, do we?  But given how we are all running at a pretty quick clip through our day, maybe we need to talk about this more often!

There is an old song that has been stirring in my heart this week, maybe you remember it.  The words are:

“Be still and know that I am God”

These simple and powerful words are taken from Psalm 46:10, in the Old Testament.  In this psalm,  the psalmist begins by stating that God is our refuge and our strength.  The psalmist goes on to say that no matter what goes on around us, God is in charge, even in the midst of fearful chaos.  And then in verse 10, God says, “Be still and know that I am God”.   BE STILL.   The Hebrew definition of these two simple words are;  to stop striving, to let go, surrender.  “Be still”.

 What a great reminder that we can let go and rest in God to provide help, strength and safety.

There’s no doubt that the act of being still and resting becomes more of a challenge in our hectic world. The world asks us to be busy. God asks us to be still so we can rest and replenish.  It’s hard.  But what we know is that we are better when we are rested.  We also know that when we are still - when we are rested - it is then that we are fully able to receive God’s love, peace and guidance.

Take some time to today, if only a moment, to trust God and be still.  Take some time today to rest.  And as soon as I press send, that is exactly what I am going to do.

I look forward to worshipping with you on Sunday!

"Don't eat them all at once!"

As a young girl growing up in a Sikh home I really had no idea what Easter was all about. In fact, for the longest time I associated Easter with chocolate and throwing up. Yup.  Let me explain.

Growing up my mom worked at Eaton’s Department Store.  And like most retail establishments after a major holiday, unsold holiday items were sold at a drastically reduced price.  One year, my mom came home on the Tuesday after Easter with four large Chocolate Easter Eggs (they were hallow and stood about 12” high and filled with smaller chocolate candies).  I remember thinking I had won the lottery!  I didn’t even have to go hunting for them like my friends did. Can you imagine…4 feet of chocolate… all for me!!!

“Don’t eat them all at once.” My mother warned.

“Wow! Sure”. 

By Friday I had consumed all four and spent the weekend sick to my stomach. I couldn’t bring myself to eat chocolate for years. 

If you asked eight year old Mona, “What does Easter mean to you?”  I would have said, “Chocolate and barfing.”  I really had no idea what Easter was about.  At school we would dip eggs in food colouring and vinegar, and colour pictures of bunnies and flowers.  I found myself asking, “But why?  What was it all about??”

Perhaps I was told by a kind teacher or a snarky school mate, but I didn’t fully understand the meaning of Easter until I was much older. 

Easter is about Christ’s persecution and it is about Christ’s resurrection.  

Did you know that back in Jesus’ day crucifixions were a normal practice?  

Thousands died by crucifixion, but what made this particular crucification different was the ONE who was crucified, Jesus.  

Jesus died on the cross but Jesus rose from the dead.  Eyewitnesses talked about it and wrote about it, and people have been talking about it ever since because the resurrection is not what He did; it's who He is.

Why does it matter? Because God, in His love and mercy, did something for us we were incapable of doing for ourselves.  In His great love, God became one of us, in Jesus, God in the flesh, born of a virgin. 

Why does Jesus being born of a virgin matter? 

Because Jesus didn't inherit the sin nature from an earthly father but inherited the divine nature from his Heavenly Father. Therefore, he could be the lamb without blemish or spot or wrinkle.

On the cross when He brutally suffered at the hands of creation, we are told that he looked up to heaven and said, "Father, I did what you sent me to do. It is finished. Into your hands I commit my spirit." thus fulfilling the law Himself and taking on Himself the punishment for the sins of all those who would ever turn and trust in Him.

Scripture tells us that the earth went dark and shook, and everyone who had hoped maybe Jesus was the messiah fell into despair and darkness. They didn't realize it was Friday but Sunday was coming!  God would be glorified through the death, as Jesus was raised.

When I realized that that was what Easter was about and not chocolate bunnies, eggs and the negative side effects of over indulging, it changed my world.

One touch from God and it can change your world too!

++++++++++++++

Last Sunday we celebrated Palm Sunday.  Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week and commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.  The gospels record the arrival of Jesus riding into the city on a donkey, while the crowds spread their cloaks and palm branches on the street shouting "Hosanna to the Son of David" and "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”.  With excitement they honour him as their long-awaited Messiah and King. 

On Sunday we too had the opportunity to wave palm branches…and we had an opportunity, as we look ahead to Maundy Thursday — the day Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper— to look at and experience communion in a unique and reflective way.  If weren’t able to join us, you can hear the teaching here! 

Here is what is happening this Holy Week:

• On Thursday we gather at Amberlea for a very special Messy Church.  Everyone welcome.  Dinner is a 6pm. Let Nancy know how many in your family plan to attend. It is going to be a wonderful evening.  familyministries@amberlechurch.ca

• We also remember Good Friday, the day Jesus died on the cross for our sins.  We invite you to join us at 11 a.m. for a powerful, reflective service. 

• And then, on Sunday we celebrate Resurrection Sunday or Easter Sunday.  We will begin with a wonderful Easter breakfast at 9:30 am, an Easter Egg hunt at 10:30 am and then at 11a.m we will celebrate that He is Risen!  (He is Risen indeed!)

This is a very important week. Simply put, the most important thing Jesus ever did to rescue our world happened this week - that’s what makes this week “Holy”.

Join us as we reflect and prepare our hearts for the agony of His Passion and the joy of His Resurrection.