in the 16 century John of the Cross, a Carmelite monk having gone through a period of time when he felt abandoned by God wrote his most famous work “The Dark night of the Soul.” ( for an on line read go to http://www.ccel.org/ccel/john_cross/dark_night.toc.html)

Out of his experience John learned that when we intentionally  engage with God in relationship at some point we may feel abandoned, hopeless in our pursuit of God, question whether God exists, and if he does, does it matter.  John of the Cross discovered that God did care but was leaving him in the dark to purify him. This is old stuff and rubs against our correct but perhaps over over emphasized identification of God’s nurturing, benevolent, happy “Jesus loves us”  side. Rob Bell’s upcoming book is stirring up all kinds of controversy as he apparently puts hell on trial rumour has it he argues that God’s love overrides confining anyone to eternal damnation. I’ll have to wait to read it but it sounds like a real zinger. My point is John of the Cross would tell us that he experienced hell on earth in the absence of Christ’s presence, Christ’s version of  tough love.

This raises s a couple of things for me. One,  we need to be in intentional pursuit of meaningful relationship with Christ as it is hard to argue that Christ has abandoned us if our previous relationship was casual and sporadic.

Two, and for this you’ll need to read him. There is a tough side to Christ, something we need to measure up to.

Sunday February 6 we begin a series of sermons exploring the lives of the Christ’s disciples.

Matt Glombick will start off the series revealing how Christ’s influence shaped his disciples to start multiple communities of faith ( church plants?). He will also give an update on his work as U of A Campus Chaplain and founder of Epic student church.

Find out what a typical Urban Bridge Gathering is like and prepare for a great community experience.