Hi, welcome to redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, your host for the daily challenges. These daily challenges are meant to help you explore what it means to follow Jesus even in the midst of a busy commuting lifestyle. If you’ve never explored what it means to follow Jesus, I’d encourage you to check our Christianity 101 course first. It would be a great introduction to the things we try to put into practice in these daily challenges. Every week we follow a daily, weekly rhythm that helps us as a scattered community of people trying to follow Jesus in a busy lifestyle work together and learn together.
Every Monday we introduce the idea for the week. Every Tuesday we try to see where that idea is spoken about in the Bible. Every Wednesday, we see how the Bible’s take on the topic challenges and transforms our thinking. Thursdays, we try to apply it, put it into practice. Then Friday is a day for prayer and reflection on how the week has gone. Saturday we take a day of rest and then Sunday’s a day for community.
It’s especially important that followers of Jesus are gathering together regularly in community. That’s why we’re going to be starting a brand-new Christian community, a new church in Ajax this year. I’d love to hear from you if you’d like to be part of what we’re starting. If you’d like to be part of the team to get it off the ground or if you’re planning to be regularly attending our worship and community once it starts.
Right now, our challenges are following a series we call Reset. We’re looking at what it means to follow Jesus and how following Jesus resets every aspect of our lives. We saw first of all, how the language of born again leads us to this conclusion. Then, we’ve been looking in the subsequent weeks at how following Jesus impacts each area of life. We’ve talked about time; we’ve talked about money, talked about our goals. This week going to talk about how following Jesus resets our attitudes about work. Work is such an important thing to talk about. Most of us spend more time at work than we do sleeping. Takes up so much of our day. It drives how we organize ourselves, what time we get up in the morning, what time we get home, what kind of childcare the kids are in or not. It determines our income and how we spend our money as a result.
Our work has a lot to do with how our lives are planned and organized. We talked through the series about how following Jesus resets everything. Our assumption needs to be that yes, following Jesus does reset our attitudes about work. It changes how we work. The question we really need to explore is how. What’s that actually mean to say Jesus resets our attitudes around work? Maybe you have some stories in mind that have you concerned. You know, I just met somebody recently who had just become a Christian, and they proudly told me that they had quit their job and were studying theology now.
I heard about somebody else, who joined a different religion altogether, and when they did they quit their job, a decent paying job and took a much lower paying job, simply so they could be working with a member of their religion. They weren’t allowed to associate with people of other religions anymore. That put up some red flags, obviously. Maybe those kinds of stories concern you too. You think it means following Jesus always leads to quitting your job. Maybe you have to become a monk or something like that, or you have to join the priesthood.
I heard one interesting quote from Friedrich Buechner. “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. I believe the fruit of such a calling is joy.” Now that kind of attitude towards our work probably doesn’t sound so bad. We can’t completely withdraw from the world, but all becoming monks are quitting a job that puts us in contact with people of different religions. We wouldn’t be able to meet the world’s deep needs if we all withdrew from the world as followers of Jesus. Following Jesus also isn’t about working to the bone with no joy. There’s meant to be a deep joy found in serving the deep needs of the world.
I know one friend who found himself so overwhelmed by his work and his career, so overwhelmed by the sense that he needed to be moving upwards, up the corporate ladder that he eventually found it was crushing him, and it was crushing his family. It was crushing his marriage. He left that job. After a period of uncertainty, a challenging time, found himself in work that was much more fulfilling, where he found himself serving others, caring for others, where he was finding deep joy in meeting the world’s deep needs. He was still using some of the same skills he learned from his education and in the early years of his career, but he found that it wasn’t joyless and it wasn’t disconnected from the world anymore. He was able to be a follower of Jesus in his work.
Sometimes we have to pause and reassess our ideas of what upward or downward mobility mean. Yes, my friend might be making less money than he did before. Yes, he put a career on hold for a little while, but he firmly believes that had he continued down the path he was going it would have led to his destruction. Sometimes we think our choices before us are just a choice of whether I go upward or downward. We don’t realize that continuing to pursue upward mobility at all costs could be ultimately the source of our demise, can actually be a choice between having any work, anyway, to support ourselves or our family or nothing, if we find ourselves so physically, spiritually and emotionally broken as a result of having pursued all the wrong things in life.
Whether it’s money, power, prestige or something else, our work can lead us to a path of destruction if we have our sense of upward and downward mobility mixed up, we think upward mobility is just about making more money, having a higher position in this world, we’ve missed the point that there is far more to this world than what we see right now. There’s far more to this world than money and career. I’ve got a question for you to think about before we get into this a little bit more this week. Our question is, “Do you think Christians are meant to work differently from others?” How and why?
Just a reminder that we’re reading the Bible in sync as a community right now. Make sure you check our website or app to see what today’s Bible reading is. Even while were scattered, we can be gathering together virtually to read the Bible together, to grow and learn as followers of Jesus. Hope you have a great discussion with a group you’re hopefully working with. If you’re not, think about who you could share our challenges with. It’s a great opportunity to connect to the deeper level with some friends or colleagues. Have a great one. I’ll see you tomorrow.
Read the Bible in Sync Today
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Hi. Welcome to Redeem the Commute. I'm Ryan, your host to the daily challenges. Normally we follow a weekly rhythm that helps us explore a different topic and how following Jesus impacts that topic.
This week is going to be a little different. We're going to be taking an opportunity to just kind of see where we are as a community. Now you probably know us as a mobile app and website for busy commuters but we're also trying to become a church community as we explore what it means to follow Jesus. As individual people engaged in a busy lifestyle, we want to make sure that we're not completely disconnected from one another and that even though we're usually quite scattered as a community, we want to take time to gather as well.
As a gathered community, we want to make sure that we are committed to some of the same things in common and so that's why through this week, this week alone, it's going to be kind of a special week. We're going to be looking at each of the things our community is committed to one by one and see how we're doing as a community by hearing the stories of individuals who are part of our growing on-line community or our in-person courses who are seeing their lives changed. We hope they'll inspire you to see some transformation in your own life as well.
The five things that we're committed to as a community. I'll start with being committed to growth in discipleship. We have some common content to learn together. We also want to be committed to God in worship, committed to generosity in our resources, committed to grace in our lifestyles and witness and finally, committed to groups in community. We're going to be look at each of those points one by one this week and today, being Monday, we're going to start by looking at growth in discipleship.
Today in our series, just a bit of status update for Redeem the Commute and how we're progressing to becoming a church community called Redeemer Church, we wanted to talk about the importance of a place in our community on generosity of resources. A few months ago we shared a story with you from a woman named Carol who had chosen to use some of her financial resources to support the work of Redeem the Commute and it becoming Redeemer Church.
We shot a great video of her telling her story of why she has chosen to give to support God's work in various forms but particularly Redeem the Commute. We'll show you a couple of clips from that now and I think the real highlights are how she felt that this was an important way to respond to God's relationship with her. There was no decision made on a whim here but rather she felt God's distinct calling to support this ministry because she had been a commuter herself who found she needed resources to help her follow Jesus while she was going about that busy part of her life and now wants to share that opportunity with others.
Generosity of resources is all about taking what God has given us and returning some of it in thanksgiving. To say thanks to God for the great gifts he gives us, we give him a small portion in return.
I know that I found ... I spent seventeen years commuting and I'd commute sometimes anywhere between an hour and two and a half hours one way. I used to try and spend quality time with God in my car. I think that the whole idea of Redeeming the Commute is an excellent way to use time that's otherwise wasted.
My husband and I sensed that we should give a particular amount of money as a one-time gift to Redeem the Commute. I'd seen Ryan actually at a conference and when I saw him, I thought, I think we're supposed to support his ministry in Redeem the Commute. We didn't have the money at the time and that was okay because we've learned that God does provide. Income tax refund came in, check was written and Redeem the Commute came part of our financial ledger at home.
And then just got the sense that God wanted us to start supporting Ryan monthly. One day I was praying and Redeem the Commute came to mind and I knew that the timing was the timing that day and so that evening I went on to the website and accessed the giving form and set it up so that we now are monthly supporters.
Now Carol just didn't make a one-time gift to Redeem the Commute. She chose to actually make an ongoing gift. She recognized that Redeem the Commute was a weekly enterprise. We are producing videos every week and putting them out there for people to learn what it means to follow Jesus. That happens every week whether you're watching or not. She wanted to make sure she made a regular, ongoing monthly gift to the work of Redeem the Commute. That kind of commitment is what allows us to do our work, knowing that every week, every month we have a portion of our needs covered.
Unfortunately it is not all. We're supported by grants from our denomination, the Diocese of Toronto, and those grants decline over time. We're hoping that those who are part of our community, on-line and in person, will start to give to cover the cost of this ministry. Start to give thanks for how you've been touched by giving so that others can be touched as well.
Think about how it works. You're able to watch this video today because of the kind of gift that Carol made. Her regular ongoing gift supports our ministry and has enabled it to reach you. How many more people could we reach if each of you watching were to make a regular gift to Redeem the Commute as well?
We could grow our ministry by leaps and bounds to reach not just people in Ajax and Durham, but across the GTA. We could see more lives transformed, more marriages saved, more parenting skills improved, more families brought back together through the work of Redeem the Commute supported by people like you. As Redeem the Commute becomes a church community called Redeemer Church, generosity is going to be an important part of who we are and, yes, that comes across in supporting the ministry itself of Redeem the Commute becoming Redeemer Church but also in our general attitude of generosity as we go about our daily lives.
We want to be a community of people who are known for our generosity, generosity of our financial resources, generosity of our time, generosity of our compassion as we encounter others in this world.
I am encouraging you to make Redeem the Commute a regular part of your giving, of your charitable giving. You give through our website at redeemthecommute.com. You look for the give back link. You'll be able to get a tax receipt from the Diocese of Toronto, our denomination, when you do give a gift of over ten dollars.
I'd encourage you to make us a regular part of your giving but also to include other charities, other Christian ministries, other things in our world that are consistent with God's kingdom and finally, save some money so you can give generously to those you know who are in need. That's the big picture of generosity. We've explored that before in other challenges. I'd encourage you to go back to our series to becoming like family to see a bit of that or some of our earlier segments as well.
Your challenge for today is to find a way to support the ministry of Redeem the Commute, whether that looks like you may be giving your time to help us start our worshiping community or maybe giving some of your talents if you have particular gifts and skills that you think would be useful as we do that, or it can be giving financially to support this ministry and there are a few ways to do that.
One is to go to our website as I mentioned earlier, and look for the give back link right at the top of the page. You'll be led to a page where you can give through our giving page at the Diocese of Toronto. Your tax receipt will come from them but it will still have been directed to Redeemer Church. As long as it says Redeemer Church on the form, you know you're in the right place and you're giving specifically to this ministry which is part of a much larger ministry called the Anglican Diocese of Toronto.
When you give on-line to Redeem the Commute you've got a few options. You can just make it a one-time gift but if you are able to, I'd encourage you to set it up as a regular, ongoing gift through your credit card. If you prefer not to use a credit card and you'd prefer to maybe use debit, I'd encourage you to set up a preauthorized withdrawal. You can set up a regular monthly gift, again through the Diocese of Toronto. I can put you in touch with the right people if you'd like to make that kind of a gift.
The same thing if you'd like to give through cash or by check. I can give you some instructions on how to give that way and make sure your gift is directed to Redeemer Church as well. These are all great ways to give to support the ministry of Redeem the Commute but I hope it's touched you and it's a way to help make sure we can touch other people's lives as well.
We're meant to become a self-funding church community over time. Although we started with grants, very generous grants from the Diocese of Toronto, we want to become self funding. I'd love to hear from you this week in how you plan to support the ministry of Redeem the Commute so we can keep this touching lives like it's touched yours.
That's it for today's topic. Hope you're working with a group and can discuss with them maybe what your plans are for giving of your time, your talents or your treasure to support the work of Redeem the Commute. I'd encourage you not to delay but to take some steps today to do that because you might forget if you don't do it today.
Please consider making a regular gift to Redeem the Commute. This is a project of Redeemer Church, a new Anglican church forming in Ajax that wants to help busy, commuting people. We are so new, our denomination handles our donations using the form below or at this direct link. Your charitable receipt will come from The Anglican Diocese of Toronto.
