They Let My Pastor Out of Jail

Today is a good day. Pastor James is free, with no conditions to keep him from pastoring.

According to the judge, James has the right to make decisions for himself, but not for his congregation or for the community at large. I would just like to point out that I've been making my own decision to attend church every week. As an official adult (for many years), I'm able to look at the issues, look at what Scripture says, and make up my own mind. I think the judge just doesn't like that we're not letting the government make decisions for us.

An article with more details can be found here. The tall red-headed guy in the photo is my pastor, not in jail.

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.