Chris Schoon lives in Hamilton, ON, where he serves as Senior Pastor of First Hamilton CRC, an urban church rooted in the Durand and Kirkendall neighborhoods. He has his ThD in missional theology (Wycliffe College/University of Toronto), through which he focused on worship, discipleship, and evangelism in the missional church movement. Along the way, Chris has taught courses at Redeemer University College and Calvin Theological Seminary. In addition to posts here on Reformed Worship, Chris maintains two other blogs (christopherjschoon.com and muddiedprayers.com). His worship-related interests center on telling the grand narrative of God’s grace through liturgy and exploring how worship as a gathered people intertwines with the life of God's people outside of worship.
Last August, Zac Hicks posted on the Reformed Worship blog about a few metaphors related to mission and worship that have been meaningful to him. He referenced a couple metaphors from Ruth Meyers’ book Missional Worship, Worshipful Mission and then offered a metaphor of his own.
Throughout church history and across denominations, God’s people have given a privileged place within worship to the reading of the Ten Commandments. In my experience, the Ten Commandments have usually been included as a Call to Confession or as a Call to Holy Living. In the first instance, our attention is drawn toward how we have fallen short of God’s expectations. Our sin is exposed. In the second, we are called to live more faithfully in response to God’s grace in Jesus Christ.
I knew it would be an emotionally heavy week. Recently, I participated in a Mental Health First Aid training offered by Mental Health Canada. In a similar way to a Red Cross first aid course, this course is designed to equip first responders with information, skills, and resources needed to identify and provide care to someone experiencing a mental health crisis. I highly recommend this course for those who are in the Canadian context and can access it.
