Pastor James Coates to be released from jail as Crown withdraws charges

Pastor James Coates to be released from jail as Crown withdraws charges

I think I'm crying as much now as I did when he was arrested, only now it's pure thankfulness and joy!

About Encouragement

 There have been times in the past when I've been hesitant to send a note or leave a message of encouragement for someone. I wasn't sure exactly what to say, or I was worried it would be weird (especially if it was someone I didn't know), or I thought that so many other people had probably already said it better. I sometimes reached out, but too often kept silent.

Two things happened that have changed things for me. First, last spring/summer I received some little notes from people at the church. I don't know if they knew just how hard that time was for me (being apart from the church family hurt so much, and made the other challenges of that time even worse), but their notes made me feel less alone. They helped a lot.

Then, more recently, I've been answering emails for the church. There have been a lot (I've answered emails from more than 900 people), and many of them are the same: we've heard about what's happening, we support you, we're praying for you. Some are long and rambling, and some are very short, only a sentence or two. There are people who have put a lot of thought into what they want to say and write beautiful emails, and others who just want us to know that they're thinking of us and say it quickly (and sometimes with a lack of punctuation). We have pretty much every type of writing possible: essays, simple sentences, paragraphs, business letter-esque, poetry, rants, writing that would normally make the inner English major cringe (but the inner English major is calm when reading encouraging notes).

The point is: I appreciate every single one. It doesn't matter that I've read the same words a hundred times before, or that someone wasn't sure how to express things, or that we're hearing from people who have never been to our church or met us. What matters is that these people took the time to reach out and offer some encouragement when they thought it would help.

I'm becoming more willing to say something, even just a little something when the time arises. I comment on Facebook posts or Twitter. I write some little notes to send to people and I send some quick texts. I still probably keep silent more often than I should, but I'm trying. Because what I've discovered is that none of what I worried about matters; it just matters that someone knows that I care.

Sunday

Today is Sunday, and that meant worshiping with the church family again. I am thankful every week that we can meet together. I know most churches are closed or limited, but we're part of GraceLife of Edmonton (that church in the news), so we're open and have been filled to overflowing. It looks like the people who came just to support us or see what was going on have started to go back to their own churches; we could fit everyone into the building today.

It was a good Sunday. I enjoyed teaching Sunday School, I loved worshiping with the church family, and I really appreciated Pastor Jake's sermon. It was good.

But oh, I miss my pastor today. Friday was the day we heard if the judge would overturn the conditions of bail so James could come home, but the judge refused. We weren't surprised (we sort of expected it), but we were disappointed. And it was hard today; this is the third Sunday with him in jail (and those are words I never expected to write).

It's not that he's never been away from church before. He's been on vacation, and he went away for school a few times, so him being away is normal. What's not normal is him being in jail and us not knowing when we will get him back. It's not the same as vacation or school; it's hard and it hurts and I want my pastor back.

I hate that he's in jail and paying the price for obedience to God's word (and that his family is paying the price, and then to a lesser extent the church), but I'm proud of him for standing for truth and not giving in.

I'm going to cheat here and finish with something that I posted on Facebook this week. A friend from Ontario had asked me to post when we had the news, so this is what I posted:

The judge upheld the conditions of bail, namely that Pastor James will not attend or conduct services unless he complies with any existing orders.

Complying with the existing orders would require him to close corporate worship to most of the congregation each week and would keep him from properly pastoring the flock under his care. To do so would violate his conscience, so he will remain in jail until his trial at the beginning of May.
I cried a little bit at the decision of the judge: I cried for Pastor James, for his family, for the church (and so for myself).
At the same time, I am so thankful to have been given a pastor who has such a love for God, for His word, and for His people; who is a man of strong convictions who will not go against conscience even when it would be easier (and I know he wants desperately to be with his family and with the church); and who walks in integrity and stands for truth. I am so thankful that God sent Pastor James to us and that I have had the privilege of being part of his flock.
Please, pray for Pastor James, for his wife and children, and for our church, because this is so hard for all of us. And pray that God's will will be done and that He will be glorified in all of this.

Open Your Churches

I have been reading and responding to so many emails sent the the church in support of Pastor James (and his family and the church). There has been so much love in these emails; there are so many people praying; and there are so many who desire to help in some way. It has been a great blessing to me to read them.

There has also been one other common theme: People are hurting because they can't gather as the body of Christ to worship together. Some churches only allow a few people in; others haven't been open in almost a year now. They have spoken to their pastors and been told that no, they can't open their churches. And now they are feeling alone, sometimes abandoned, and always so sad. 

Listen: maybe there are reasons to keep a church closed, or to only allow a handful of people. Maybe you think you're caring more for the people by trying to protect them from illness, or maybe you genuinely think that it's better to follow the guidelines when they tell you not to gather, or maybe you just haven't taken the time to think (and pray) about the best response to things. Maybe you don't want to pay the price of opening your church (after all, they put my pastor in jail). I don't know.

This is what I do know: The sheep are hurting, and as their shepherds, it's your job to care for them no matter what the government tells you. I know the sheep are hurting because they have told me over and over. I know it's your job to care for them because that's what the Bible teaches (1 Peter 5:2), and you cannot shepherd a flock if you are not with them. You can try (I know you're trying), and you can partly care for them (livestreaming can only do so much), but they need to be together, to worship together, to fellowship with one another. They need to do everything the Bible calls us to do.

I have prayed for some many hurting people over the past few days as I've read the emails. I have hurt for them and cried for them because they cannot have the fellowship they seek, because they cannot worship with God's family. This should not be.

Please, pastors, open your churches.

Sermon Notes

 I am a note-taker, especially during sermons (I'm a doodler during staff meetings). Part of the reason is that having something to do helps me focus and writing things down helps me remember. Part of the reason is that I like to review the notes again before the following week's sermon (our pastors generally preach expositional sermons through a book; right now we are in John), and sometimes I like to go back and check something.

Pastor James is an excellent speaker and has an amazing way with words, and I love listening to him preach. Sometimes, though, there are sentences that really stick out for me, things that I want to ponder later, and I write them down on a separate page. 

Here are some of those lines:

No one comes to Jesus through a side door.

The fear and praise of men are compelling motivations for the flesh.

God is God. He determines reality. He is truth.

Hell will be filled with procrastinators.

God's discipline is both loving and redemptive.

Unbelief gets in the way of self-evaluation and objectivity.

There are going to be no missing sheep on the last day.

The practicality of theology amplifies in difficulty.

They Put My Pastor in Jail

Of all the things I thought I should write about over the past month or so when I've thought, "I should be writing", this was never on the list, but here we are: They put my pastor in jail.

Let me be clear: my pastor is not a criminal. He is one of the kindest, gentlest, most patient and loving people I know. He loves his people, the flock that God has given him. He is a true pastor: he preaches God's word faithfully; he preaches the gospel weekly; he prays for his people; listens to us when we are happy or sad or hurting, and he rejoices or weeps with us; he counsels us with God's word; he knows his sheep and loves every one of us. He is a man of God, a man of integrity, a man who loves God and His word and His people. I thank God for him regularly because I have been so blessed through his ministry; I have learned and grown so much in the years he has been my pastor.

Why, then, would they put someone like him in jail? He opened the church and he refused to close it. He believes that Christ is the head of the church, not the government, and he refuses to tell most of his people that they can't worship together on any given Sunday. He believes that we are commanded by God to gather as a body, to worship and fellowship together, and to serve one another.

To be clear, the current restrictions mean:

1. We can only meet with 15% capacity (about 20-ish% of our congregation).
2. Households need to be at least 2 meters apart.
3. We are not allowed to sing.
4. We need to leave as soon as the service ends.
5. We need to be careful to social distance even as we leave.

Beyond that, we can't have people over, we can't meet members of other households in restaurants, and we can only have gatherings outdoors, with 10 people, masked, and 2 meters apart (and it's winter in Alberta).

How can a pastor shepherd his flock if he's not allowed to be with them? He can preach to us in a multitude of ways: he can have livestream services, he can make us take turns attending each week, or he can hold 5-6 services each Sunday to allow everyone to attend, but he cannot shepherd his flock. 

So he (and the other elders at the church, who are in complete agreement) opened the doors wide and told us that we can come to worship and fellowship together. He did it knowing that he might be fined (he was), and we came knowing that we could all be fined (we weren't), and he kept pastoring every Sunday, even when he knew that he might be arrested and jailed.

Last week, they put my pastor in jail because he opened the church. They would let him go home until his trial if he would agree to follow all the restrictions, or not preach at all, and he refused; he could not in good conscience close the church to anyone.

I am grieved that he is in jail. I pray for him, for his family, for our elders, for our church many times each day. At the same time, I am so thankful for a him and for his willingness to stand for what he believes is true, to stand for God's word no matter the cost.

Please, pray for my pastor, for his family, for my elders, for my church. And pray for the other pastors who are allowing the government to dictate how they worship. And if you are a pastor, open your church, shepherd your flock, be the pastor God has called you to be.

To understand more of why we are open, you can go to the GraceLife website and read the statement; I would also encourage you to follow the links in the second paragraph in the statement and listen to Pastor James's sermons.

Sunday Notes

 I love my church family! I love being with them, worshiping with them, fellowshipping with them, and serving with them. Sunday is my happiest day because I get to be with so many of my favourite people, and we get to worship God together, and love each other, and just be family together. 

This week: We have new books for the library (this order was rather heavy on church history, as we're trying to build that section now); I held my current favourite baby and continued my attempt to convince him that I'm his favourite person and that Miss Dorothy should be his first words; I got some advice on job hunting and some first steps to take; I saw friends that I haven't seen in weeks; I was happy. All that...and we sang together and read Scripture together and prayed together and listened to an excellent message from Daniel 3 together (and I'll have to listen to it again to get all of if).

Part of the challenge in the spring was being cut off from my church family, being told that we couldn't gather together. Livestream is not the same (to worship with the church family, you need to be with the church family).

Sunday School starts next week! It's been a month since I've had anyone to teach, and I'm going through withdrawal. I can't wait to be with my bambinoes again.

And to finish up, here is a hymn that we sang together; I found it very encouraging to sing and think about the words.