.png)
One of my favourite Charles Surgeon quotes has been running through my head a lot these last couple of months. “There is hardship in everything except eating pancakes.” This is one of my favourites both because it mentions pancakes which I truly do enjoy with a generous helping of maple syrup, and also because it speaks to the human experience that in this world there will be suffering highlighted by the moments of pure unadulterated joy that shines through the cloud of sin and suffering that our world contains.
The reason why it has run through my head so often is that in March and April, I have eaten pancakes and found real joy in the gifts that God has given Cristyn and I, and I have also seen that this world is very broken in so many ways.
With the removal of a fair amount of Covid restrictions in March and finally also here in April, we have seen our church come back to life, with the start of kids Sunday school, a women's Bible Study, a men's prayer meeting, and new people showing up to church almost every Sunday. Sometimes at the men's prayer breakfast we would eat pancakes or similar foods. Cristyn and I hosted a pancake open house, we had a pancake breakfast on Easter.
Cristyn's last Intervarsity event of the year included making bannock, the first nations equivalent of pancakes and there was much joy in it Her bible studies that Intervarsity students ran always included good food and were very successful in opening up the goodness of God's word.
We even managed to have a Passover celebration with our young adults group that very clearly pointed to the need for a sacrificial lamb and his resurrection. It was a joyful meal with laughter and fun as well as moments of remembrance of the bitterness of death and slavery.
After the meal, one of our young adults exclaimed:
"I finally understand why we do communion the way we do and why Christ is our sacrficial lamb!"
All of these occasions have proved out the truth of what Spurgeon was trying to say, that in the joy and celebration of little moments with delicious pancakes we are free from the curse that our world is fallen under.
Especially during our Easter morning breakfast, there is nothing like the people of God getting together for a meal, and celebrating the gift of Life in this life and the next through the resurrection of Christ. Pancakes help us to rejoice in the gifts of God that remind us that not everything is hardship.
Yet other events in our last couple of months have proven the inverse of the statement, that this world is indeed filled with hardship despite the pancakes.
I spoke out at Ness Lake Bible Camp for their Spring Break Camp in March and a moment that etched itself into my memory was the little girl who as we discussed the Gospel in her cabin group, shared that her parents were divorcing and separated and so she needed Jesus to be her friend because she felt so alone. While I rejoiced that part of my message got through, what a tragedy to hear from the mouth of a little one, who at such a young age is losing the joy of having parents who can love one another and take care of her together. Pancakes will be a moment of encouragement, but the world around her is falling apart.
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 recounts the wisdom of Solomon
“For Everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven: A time to be born and a time to die: A time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up a time to weep and a time to laugh; and time to mourn and a time to dance a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to cast away; a time to keep silence and a time to speak; a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.”
The wisdom of Solomon and Spurgeon, that there are moments of joy and of good things and that there are also moments of tragedy and heartache is something that Cristyn and I have seen acted out day in and day out as we work away in the field that God has called us to. In fact the story that we celebrated this Easter is a perfect example for the joy of the resurrection of our Saviour had to be preceded by the bitterness and loss of Good Friday.
The ministry that God has called Cristyn and I to ( though it is the ministry of every Christian) is in these moments of hardship and in these moments of pancakes. This is why we are so thankful for both your prayers and support.
Every day will be a mixed bag in this broken world and by the grace of God and his hand in using you to support our continued ministry here at Lakes Community Church and the Intervarsity Fellowship of UNBC we are able to sit in the brokenness and pain of the hardship that sin and our rebellion against God has caused in this world loving the people who are damaged by it, and yet also to proclaim in those moments of joy and peace, that God is not yet finished with those who he made in His image, and that the days of eternal hope (and also eternal pancakes) are coming because of His great and amazing love for us through his Son's death and resurrection.
So until next Time, He is Risen,
go eat some Pancakes!
Bradley Bergen
Monlthy Olive Update:
Olive has learned well.
Big eyes + Looking Cute = More treats. Profit $$$
Recently, we took Olive to the dog park for the first time. She enjoyed herself and ran like a mad squirrel for friends to play with.
Olive also discovered a den of snakes in our backyard! We are thankful for her keen nose, sense of smell and many nose bops throughout the day.
One of Olive's favourite treats are frozen strawberries. is
She too has been enjoying the strawberries from our pancake breakfast.
Comments