Decision making

With the GFC hitting the Anglican Church hard over the last 12 months, some people at the top of our leadership have been called to make some pretty big decisions. I love watching it to be honest. I'm really sorry we lost the money, it's going to make a lot of very decent ministries much much harder to sustain, but the benefit of learning the process of decision making at it's extreme is an incalcuable asset.
Peter Jensen in his Synod address put it very simply- that the way forward is not panic, nor paralysis but prayerful persistance. It's the hardest of the 3 options, but I do believe he is correct ( how can something so alliterated be so spot on? I suppose he is the archbishop...). With my own decision making too I am trying to practice prayerful persistance. It is much more difficult then I first imagined. I often find myself in panic or paralysis. But I think part of it is moving through that...

More Sunday school...

I'm continually blown away by the girls I teach at Sunday school. They continue to surprise me with their insight and certainty, with the way that they challenge their own preconceptions on a minute by minute basis, their absorption of new information...after speaking to so many people stuck in their ways at the age of 18, after presenting evidence for Jesus to friends at uni and work and experiencing much more resistance to the gospel it is AMAZING to teach these girls.
I think I'm growing too an increasing appreciation for my co-leader Robbo. It's definately more appropriate to call myself his co-leader because his knowledge of scripture, succint delivery of complex theology and questioning skills are incredible. Today he gave a short spiel on leprosy which really gave the girls some insight into Jesus' miraculous nature and I had to make sure I didn't look too surprised at the flood of new information! I love having gun people like that around. I also feel very secure in the knowledge that he is watching what I do each lesson.

Lauren, who was the girl I wanted to do two ways to live with, is sprouting insight like you would not believe. (We DID actually do a two ways to live type thing with the whole group about a month ago now, which went really well) Today we began our lesson on thanking God with a short recap of last weeks lesson, which was on praying when we are in trouble. As part of it we prayed for two christian women in Iran who have been imprisoned for their faith. Lauren's head nearly bounced back "For REAL?" she asked and I assured her it was true. But a few minutes laster it was obviously still on her mind as I asked what we could be thankful for and she answered ' That we can live in a country where we're not persecuted for being Christian" I'd used the word persecution earlier but the rest is entirely her own articulation. Praise praise praise Jesus.

Later on as we were looking over the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers and only one coming back to thank him, I asked the girls if God expected us to thank him. Meryn piped up that God did not EXPECT us to, like he doesn't MAKE us to have faith or live well but he wants us to. That's hitting some serious theology right there, not all bang on the head but enough to understand the nature of a RELATIONSHIP with God. I'm so grateful to God for these girl's, this opportunity for ministry, these lessons and their responses. I hope he brings glory to his name through them.

He was lifted up...

I don't think it should always be this way, but I know I grow in awe of God everytime I learn something really intricate about his plan. We should always be in awe really, as we watch everyday unfold because each moment God allows to unfold is a small miracle. A gift from him to us, a token of his love.

But sometimes he gives us icing on our proverbial cakes.

I was reading a passage in John 12 this morning where Jesus predicts his death, telling us that he was to be lifted up...

27"Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name!"
Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." 29The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
30Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." 33He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

There's a few interesting ideas in this short piece- the concept of God's revelation to some people and not others (some perceived the voice as thunder, others as an angel), the concept of God's glory ( That even before Jesus God had been glorified, that He glorifies himself, and a total exploration of what that means and it's implications, of which I am duly interested and not even close to qualified enough to begin discussing...) and the inherent contradiction that Jesus proclaims he will NOT ask God to save him from this hour in the gospel of John, which is the only gospel to omit the prayer in the garden of Gethsamane for Jesus to achievelications his Father's will, not his own...

BUT all that aside, there's something else that's caught my attention. It's verse 33- He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

It's a strange little verse, the few commentaries I've looked at haven't even picked it up. CEV translates it 'Jesus was talking about the way he would be put to death' and the New KJV 'This He said, signifying by what death He would die'. In that respect I think the reading of it should be a revelation into how Jesus was physically to be put to death, rather then the quality or 'weight' of Jesus' death, though that is addressed in other passages.

So how was he to die? He was lifted up. Look at the preceeding verse... 32But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself. Jesus died on a cross. He was lifted up from the ground. He was not physically touching the earth when he left it. He wasn't stoned, or drowned or given a lethal dose of goodness knows what, he was HUNG-lifted up. Aside from all the theological connotations there's a physical presence to his words.

Mostly, this isn't read this way. The best note I could find on it was from a biblegateway commentary which addressed a reference to Isaiah...
The phrase lifting up echoes the description of the Suffering Servant in the fourth of the Servant Songs in Isaiah (Is 52:13--53:12; cf. Brown 1966:478). The description of the Servant being "raised and lifted up and highly exalted" is followed by a description of people being appalled at him because he was disfigured and marred (Is 52:13-14). This strange combination is seen in the lifting up of Jesus on the cross.
http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/John/Jesus-Hour-Arrives

My Lord was always above the earth, but physically so in death. I don't think it matters hugely from a theological perspective. There's no great fireworks or light shed onto how we should live differently. But there is another tiny piece of the puzzle that God shares with me, which more and more brings me delight in his sovereignty and faith in his complete control.

I love God.

10 things I've learnt this year

This isn't very 'biblical' per say but I felt it belonged here...

1. Many situations are best handled as though adults are small children.
2. Intelligence is responding to the world, not pre-empting it.
3. Irrespective of circumstance, our character shines through. Therefore it is ALWAYS worth working on our character, and never worth neglecting improvement of our character for our circumstance.
5. Answers are always mostly right, or mostly wrong, but rarely black and white.
6. Sleep is the best form of procrastination.
7. Speaking honestly is an art, and one of the most worthwhile things you can learn.
8. We are not obliged, neither are we expected to do anything, except love our God.
9. Forgiveness is not pretending that everything is ok, but making everything ok.
10. Our words not our actions sculpt and define us- our prayers, promises, songs, conversations and reports are the greatest insight to us as people. Fighting to define ourselves means upholding them to a standard we are proud of every single day.

Biblegateway has failed me!

I want to find a passage that supports the idea that the Spirit will not convict us of something outside of scripture...

Any suggestions?

Or thoughts on what the Spirit convicts us on?

On a tall tall cliff

For those of you who don't know, presently 2 days a week I'm working as an assistant at a preschool. Childcare is full on work, but kids can be incredible to work with and can teach you tons and tons about anything and everything. My friend Georgie says that kids are just little people who haven't learnt to act as though they aren't selfish yet.

Plus how could anyone be unhappy while cutting squares of coloured papaer into tiny pieces?

But today I read a book called 'On a tall tall cliff' which trumped even that. The story is about two friends, Puffle and Busby who live on the edge of a tall tall cliff. One day Puffle approaches Busby and asks him if he can borrow some things out of his garden, actually the entirity of his garden, including the plants. The story continues as Puffle asks Busby to 'lend' him everything he owns, from each section of his house, until nothing is left. After each request an illusive but insistant Puffle pronounces 'I know it's a lot to ask, but it will REALLY help'.

Just after Busby has given his entire house over the edge of the cliff collapses and where his house stood falls into the sea below. Puffle turns around and says 'See Busby, I've been studying our cliff for some time now and I knew what would happen- you have really helped Busby, you've really helped me to help you.'

The message is profoundly simple, but it still took me completely by surprise the first time I read it. See God doesn't ask us for everything for himself- he asks it so that we might be saved and grow in him.

Everyday Miracles

My family

Recently I had a discussion with a friend about the nature of Christian family. I think there's something really beautiful about the body of Christ being referred to as a family- the source of our first ideas and habits, where unconciously we learn how to act and react to our world. For those who are blessed with loving parents, honest sibings and the odd family pet it can be a place of encouragement, expression and growth into the person God wants you to be- yourself.

Unfortunately though, even in Christian circles, this model of family is marred by sin now more then ever. Some of us have never had the opportunity to know our biological mother or father for one reason or another, and for more of us perhaps it would've been easier if indeed that had been the case. Feuds between parents, grandparents, extended family and the like can affect not only our perception of relationships in general but our relationship with God. I don't think that we should underestimate how a lack of trust, lack of support, lack of generousity or lack of attention in our earthly relationships can affect the way we approach trust, support, generousity or attention from God. One of the hardest leaps we are called to make is to give as GOD gives, love as GOD loves, re-write the unhelpful conditioning of the world and see relationship in light of the gospel, as God created it to be.

I think too a challenge lies in seeing our earthly friends, acquaintances, elderly church members, visiting foreign students, ministers, sunday school students, biblestudy leaders and uni group members as BROTHERS and SISTERS, and relating to them accordingly. I know for myself, the challenge is to let people in, to share with them as closely as I do my family, and not to expect that just because we're not biologically related they won't go out of their way to help me, because that's what family do. Some other people have a problem going out of their way for other people. Some people have a problem communicating with people on an entirely different wave length to them...and the list goes on. I think sometimes our view of family can be jaded by large evening church congregations, or uni faculty Christian groups where getting to know people is relatively easy because of the amount that we can have in common. We can be lured into a false sense of understanding by operating in environments which in essence are very similar to our 'original' family- where many character traits, interests and activities are mutual. The struggle is treating like a grandmother that eldery woman from the 8am service whom you've only met once and are sure suffers from memory loss- of which both the awkward nature of the relationship as well as the lack of common grounding are ample reason for us to keep a distance- "besides, surely she gains support from someone more like herself?"

If we really want to body of Christ to look like a family it's going to take work to get it that way. Nearly two years ago when I joined my current church, I mentioned to a friend that I felt the congregation was quite diseparate and that I didn't have anything in common with the other girls there. She responded that relationships were mostly work, not common interest, and that indeed relationships where you were required to work could be richer then those that came more naturally. I appreciated her approach, and found it to be true.

Another helpful comment I use often is one from my old saxophone teacher- Fake it 'till you make it. The muso's out there will understand what I mean, basically if you aren't to the point where you feel you can be family or ask people to be your family, pretend that it is that way, and you'll be surprised at how soon the pretence becomes genuine. It is very hard to feel indifference towards someone you are trying very hard to love.

And again and again we are reminded of how God, while we were in sin, loved us first and continues to hold onto us wherever we go.

In God's hands

I just watched a horrific youtube clip on child abuse.

For good measure I googled 'Australian abuse stats'.

This came from an article produced by the Australian Institute of Family studies- found at http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/sheets/rs1/rs1.html

The most recent national figures from the AIHW indicate that in Australia, during 2007-08, there were 317,526 reports of suspected child abuse and neglect made to state and territory authorities.
While the number of notifications increased, the increase observed was not as great as that observed between previous reporting periods. In fact, the increase observed between 2006-07 and 2007-08 is the smallest national increase recorded for total notifications over the past 10 years...

A child may be the subject of more than one notification - in 2007-08, the 317,526 notifications recorded during the financial year concerned 194,937 children.

Some children who are found to have suffered abuse and neglect are removed from their homes by child protection authorities and placed in out-of-home care. Nationally, the number of children in out-of-home care has risen each year from 1998 to 2008. There were 31,166 children in out-of-home care on 30 June 2008. Almost one-third (31%) of children in out-of-home care were aged 10-14 years. A further 30% were aged 5-9 years, 25% were aged less than 5 years and 14% were aged 15-17 years.

At 30 June 2008, there were 9,074 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care. The national rate of Indigenous children in out-of-home care was almost 9 times the rate for other children

Traditionally, child protection data have been perceived as a conservative estimate of the occurrence of child maltreatment (Bromfield & Higgins, 2004).

The pattern for total substantiations in 2007-08 differed from the pattern observed for notifications and investigations. The total number of substantiations (of notifications received in 2007-08) across Australia was 55,120. This is an 8% decrease on the number of substantiations recorded in the previous financial year (60,230). The 55,120 notifications recorded during the financial year concerned 32,098 children.
The decrease in the total number of substantiations recorded in Australia was the first decrease recorded for total substantiations over the past 10 years. As can be seen from Figure 1, overall, the number of total substantiations increased between 1999-00 and 2007-08 (by approximately 123%). The decrease in substantiations was also not present in all jurisdictions - Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory all recorded increases in total substantiations recorded for 2007-08 (see Table 2). As the AIHW (2009) observed, further years' data are necessary to determine whether the decrease in 2007-08 will be a continuing pattern.

The end of the clip asked, who's going to fight for those who can't fight for themselves?

According to John...

I'm listening to John Mayer' s 'Gravity' at the moment. Unfortuantely his album Continuum was ruined for me by a short stint of work in a local CD shop while it was big...loop has never had a more literal meaning...

But I like the lyrics of this one...

Gravity is working against me,
and gravity wants to bring me down.
Oh I'll never know, what makes this man
with all the love that his heart can stand
Dream of ways to throw it all away

Gravity is working against me
and gravity wants to bring me down.
Oh twice as much ain't twice as good
and can't sustain like one half could
It's wanting more that's going to send me to my knees

...

Whoa gravity stay the hell away from me,
Whoa gravity has taken better men then me,
How can that be?

Just keep me where the light is
Just keep me where the light is
Just keep me where the light is...

I think the Christian outlook can be a little grim sometimes. We are told to expect suffering, and sometimes I feel unfortunate to have discovered this reality so young- just a lifetime of suffering to look forward to...
But a lifetime too of learning about and from God, and beyond this lifetime, another one to be in his eternal presence. I hope he'll keep me where the light is.

The Rock

I found a really cool verse in 1 Peter this morning...had to share.
1 Pet 3:17-22
17It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, 19through whom[a] also he went and preached to the spirits in prison 20who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge(ESV has appeal)[b] of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission (ESV has having been subjected) to him.

I'll leave you to think amoungst yourselves... :)

Just call me Theo

It's a pretty sweet name hey. If I ever get a dog, I think I'll call it Theo- can it be a girls name??

Haha this post is not on the millions of cool names out there though-Sorry Jen :) It's on a few discoveries I'm having in regards to theology at the moment.

The first is that knowing theology isn't knowing God. If you enjoy reading something meaty I'd highly recommend JI Packer's Knowing God it's an awesome book and really covers this idea in the first couple of chapters. Ironically it then goes on to discuss a whole lot of different dictrinal issues within the church at the moment, but the real crux of each of these issues is that for one reason or another we, as a church, have distanced ourselves from the wonders of the gospel message by learning it as theology, as a set of facts and ideas, removed from our own lives. It's reflected in our preaching, our biblestudies, our uni conferences, kids camps and sunday schools. We learn ABOUT God all the time-we just find it much harder to believe, because 'we weren't there' or 'the culture was different' or 'we can't see God's specific work today'.

This year's Engage Convention (held in the Blue Mountains by KCC) topic hits our weakness on the head- it was called A Faith that Works. Here's the description...

Faith in Jesus has to be real.It has to work on Monday.Connected. Integrated. Making sense.Actually doing something.
engage09 A faith that works.

Whoever thought of this is brilliant- I didn't end up going but wish I had've because it's exactly where we're up to- we know a lot ABOUT God, but it's not hitting our lives, because we still don't know GOD very well. Let me explain it another way, I think I know a lot ABOUT Kevin Rudd. I know he's the PM, he has a wife and some kids, I know where he lives, essentially his job role, I know he only sleeps 3 hrs a night, gets paid $340 000 a yr (for the time being), if I really wanted to I could probably google what his favourite colour is. But I wouldn't say that I know Kevin Rudd very well.

How would I get to know him better? Well if I spoke to him regularly, if we spent some time together, if he came to my family Christmas and met my mum and I took his dog for a walk every Thursday morning...if we looked after one another, confided in one another, prayed for one another- if we had some sort of RELATIONSHIP then I feel I would be able to say I knew him.
Isn't it similar to our standing with God? If we spent some time together, if we spoke regularly, if he supported me, and I prayed to him, wouldn't I understand him better? I don't need to be a walking concordance to know God (not to downplay the importance of reading His Word- that is after HE speaks to US after-all!) but I do need to build a relationship with Him.
I don't think we like this option as a culture. I don't think our culture deals in time anymore- in money, in information, in contacts sure, but time?? It's too inefficient-you can't achieve everything the world needs you to if you're generous with your time; it's is a commodity we permanently don't have which is why everyone's trying to get better at managing it. It's on restrictions more stringently governed then those set by the Sydney Water Board.

Yet, time is what God asks us to give.

We mightn't understand how things worked in Jesus' time as seamlessly as the first apostles. We mightn't be able to see God's every decision playing out today. Ironically I doubt the makings of the first church would've been as clear cut for Peter and John or Paul either- perhaps we like to believe that they were more in control of the situation then they actually were- but regardless of whether they were or not the difference is probably not what they knew ABOUT God but rather the relationship they were in with Him. They knew He was looking after them, they understood his provision and guidance. They prayed with ferverance, trusting in Him. Do we do the same?

I'll admit, I'm finding prayer painfully hard at the moment. I can't concentrate for 5 minutes with my eyes closed without my mind wandering off. I fidget and find it hard to pray alone. I'm praying each time I do come to Him that I would change. Graciously too he allows me to read things from His word that help me learn things of his character that make Him worthy of prayer. He inspires and encourages me to pray, and convicts me that serving at church, or singing to Him, or helping out a friend are all expressions of love towards Him INDIRECTLY but not directly. Directly my expression of love to Him is obedience, prayer, wholistic worship, peace and rejoicing in the knowledge of Him and reverent fear.

I need to work on the prayer, the more I discover the more important I'm realising it is.

For the ladies

I think I've been feeling particularly self-conscious lately. It's funny because as a Christian woman I feel like it's something I should just make go away- there's really no place for self-centred meditation in a humble heart-but in terms of 'making it go away' I'm not doing a very good job. It doesn't seem to matter how often (or not) I look in a mirror or how deliberately I distract my thoughts (foolishly prayer is not always my first defence!) walking through the city to uni, or driving to work or logging in to facebook only seems to highlight how all around me are pictures of beautiful, perfect, charismatic, funny, confident women and it's just intimadating. Instead of encouraging individuality the world around me seems to be promoting perfection-something I neither long nor strive for.
What to strive for though? I don't find my beauty in my outward appearance, in fact I consider it somwehat a blessing I'm not ridiculously good looking-what a can of worms that opens for women who want to reflect God's impressive design- but I don't really have a firm picture of what it is I am longing for. Instead I opt for the cheap alternative-the desire to disappear into the crowd of ordinary women who in their everyday don't search for change or difference or orginality but rather to keep up with the proverbial Jones's. Even the Jones's were more original then that.
A gentle and quiet spirit I think. That's biblical, let's run the idea.Barbara Hughes is the gun when it comes to this, her passage on this in Disciplines of a Godly Woman is the best description I've come across-

Gentleness, or meekness as many translations have it, isn't a weakness or spinelessness or timidity or even niceness. This word in classical Greek was used to describe tame animals, soothing medicine, a mild word and a mild breeze. It is a word with caress in it.
Gentleness also implies self-control. Aristotle said that gentleness is the mean between excessive anger and excessive angerlessness. So the person who is gentle is able to balance his anger. He controls it. Meekness/gentleness is strength under control. (pg 153)

An awesome exegesis, and on some levels a great answer to the question of what I should be striving for. On the other hand it is difficult to use it as an answer to the unfufillment felt when your reflection doesn't reflect the way you want it to. If a friend told me she felt that she looked ugly it would be difficult for me to justify how controlling your anger makes you beautiful. Perhaps that's a flaw in the society I work in, or the way I think, perhaps the way I WOULD respond is unbiblical. I'm very willing to be wrong.
Perhaps though there are two ways to break this chain of thought. I can't pretend it'll go away by a stream of pathetic distractions, that will probably only heighten my issue by refraining to agknowledging it as important.
1) Meditating on how beautiful GOD is. I love reading Job 38, Genesis 2 and Ps 33 for this. How impressive God's creation and sovereignty is! We are the pinnacle of God's creation, warts, pimples, bad hair days, overweight, underweight, foul-speaking, foul-smelling and all. He delights in us. He thinks we're beautiful. He creates great natural beauty, oceans and mountains and sunrises and rainforests and he prizes US because beauty reaches it's pinnacle in RELATIONSHIP. Look at Jesus' s prayer for his disciples in John 17. So beautiful, not because it contains rhetoric, symmetrical phrasing or other intelligent techniques but because it is heartfelt. A sunset is beautiful, but a friend is more so. A clear night sky is beautiful but more so is a bride. We make manifest God's beauty.
2) By actually nutting out what makes me ugly and beautiful on the inside. Sure my hair looks feral but my thoughts are worse. Sure my dress is mishapen but my lack of prayer is far more abhorrent to the sight of God. Ask for forgiveness-not to be beautiful for yourself before God but that God might be seen as more beautiful by others. That is, after all, what we are all about.
What should I strive for? God's beauty. And if he uses me to portray even a glimpse of that how blessed am I.

When to ask?

I'm sorry to harp on about my sunday school girls again but one of them (Lauren) this week in prayer thanked God that we could believe in Him and that we might go on beliving him (after telling me she was going to pray for the new house that her family has recently bought, and the new puppy she hopes will come with it...) and considering she's from a non-Christian background I think that's a bit of a deal.

Is now the right time to ask her where she stands and if she'd be ready to accept Christ? She's 12 and been coming to Sunday school on and off all year...?

Things of Power

I think recently I've noticed how different the power of God is to the power of man, and the things God considers powerful as opposed to us.
Our side of the spectrum is more and more clear cut as culture allows brutal levels of honesty into acceptable spheres of thought and behaviour. Money. Success. Information.Beauty. Status-these things are well known and loved by our world.
But God uses very different things to work through; it is very true that it is the weak that he uses to shame the strong. His Word, the most powerful of all, that which can divide soul and spirit is contained in a small but easily accessible (well, this side of the east-west schism) book. So accessible and simple in fact that for this very reason many people doubt the same power it testifies to. God's creativity is so well-formed and rationaled- if they do not listen to the Word of Moses and the Prophets they will not believe, even if someone rises from the dead, (Luke 16) thus you may as well give them the best opportunity of coming into contact with such a Word as this, and in such a form that they are not confronted by its power but drawn to it slowly as they watch their Lord's mystery unfold.
We also understand that our own words hold great power- they are the words we speak both to our Lord and about him to people everywhere. In Genesis the Tower of Babel was halted by God confusing the people's language, and in Acts 2 we see the gospel sent out again by people speaking in many different languages. Our parents give declaration at our baptism that they desire for us to live with Jesus as Lord, we pray a prayer at our conversion, and understand the weight of marriage vows. Our world mightn't value words as powerful, but God has created them as instruments to be used for his glory with abundant power.
God also values faith, and gives it power. By faith Abraham was credited with righteousness and we understand too that by retaining this same faith, we too can be transformed from sinners to righteous people, surely a power that was beyond the OT Law (though that is another story for another day). Part and parcel with this faith is trust, and particularly in God's promises. A faithful God, for a faithful people.
God gives power to relationships and sex, not that they might invoke status of one man or woman over another but that by sex within marriage status might actually be relinquished, the two becoming the same person; in doing so teaching us more about the trinitarian relationship in the Godhead and his relationship with us. In fact, in all three of these examples, His Word, faith and relationships he gives power to things that allow us to learn more about Himself (and as a result ourselves also).
I believe that is why God doesn't give a stuff how much you own, how educated you are, how successful or beautiful or well-known you are, because none of these things teach you about him, and thus ourselves, and so for a while they allow us to pretend that we wield power we don't. But God offers to us power of a different kind, and longs for us to take it, that forever we might continue to grow and so bring glory to His name.

Knowing God= Forgetting suffering?

I was reading J I Packer Knowing God recently (rad book, everyone should read it) and came across an argument I found I couldn't make up my mind about...

In our approach to problems of Christian living; the question is, can we say, simply, honestly, not because we feel that as evangelicals we ought to, but because it is plain matter of fact, that we have known God, and that because we have known God the unpleasantness we have had, or the pleasantness we have not had, through being Christian does not matter to us? If we really knew God this is what we would be saying, and if we are not saying it, that is a sign that we need to face ourselves more sharply with the differnece between knowing God and merely knowing about him.

It's part of a greater argument about whether we know God and that we don't KNOW him through learning theology in a vacuum, but this part stands on it's own as well. Are we called for our suffering not to make a difference? Understanding that it is refining us, but it not essentially affecting our mentality? Is this the way to 'rejoice'?

Thoughts?

A precious gift

This year I've been really blessed to teach 4, sometimes 5 beautiful girls every Sunday morning at my church. We call it sunday school, but in essence it's more of a basic bible study. I love watching them learn, even on the days when the best part of the lesson is consumed with them telling me about their pets/friends/holidays/the gadget they want/ the school social they're going to/the baby brother they dream of and on it goes. I love it because it makes me more a part of their life then just a teacher.

Meryn has been in sunday school forever and loves clothes, lame jokes, netball and babies. Lauren has only started coming this year and will tell a story anytime she gets the opportunity, laughs really loud, has had at least half a dozen nicknames and pays out our other leader like there's no tomorrow. Jessie is an academic to the bone, is competitive and quiet and Izzy is another Sunday school veteran, used to knowing all the answers but beginning to ask more difficult questions, plays every musical instrument known to man and loves long distance running.

Over the last couple of weeks the girls haven't been coming as often as they usually do. It eats my heart to watch the service start without any one of them.

Today Izzy's dad told me their family was moving churches. It really struck a chord. Not because she was moving, I'd rather she be wherever her family was, and not because I feel my leadership would trumpt anyone else's but because our church is a family, and when someone leaves it's hard to say goodbye.
It really reminded me too of the importance of prayer. I am still connected to Izzy as a sister and will meet her again, but until then we are still connected as we pray for one another here on earth. On top of that I realised how much there is to pray for in a single ministry.
PRAY they'll come
PRAY they'll listen
PRAY I speak the truth
PRAY it impacts their thinking
PRAY their actions and mine might change

Thank God sanctification is not by our own means!
I hope Izzy will learn that wherever she is.

The exact opposite of the truth is "the probable." Truth does not consist of an approximation. That which lies nearest to the truth is not, if you please, closest to the truth. No, this is the most dangerous delusion of all, the most dangerous simply because it lies so near to the truth without being the truth.

I've worked out how you can comment!

Sorry guys, I know some of you have tried to comment and had some trouble, I had to change some settings internally, my bad.

You can now comment by pressing comment and selecting Name/URL. I'm guessing you don't need any instruction on what to put in the name slot, but in the URL you need to put a website URL. You can put in your myspace, other blogs, facebook page or any random website like biblegateway.com or youtube.com. It just has to end in .com or .net it doesn't actually show the website URL, so have fun with it!!

It would be great to hear from you. Again, sorry for the inconvenience.

:) Liz

A Big Problem

My mum is not a very profound person. A trained bookeeper she is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get, everything in small neat, labelled boxes, accounted for and ready for use kind of person. My dad, on the other hand, is a concept machine. He loves testing the water, testing the boundaries, abstract thinking and seeing things from different points of view.

I've gotta admit, they make a pretty good team, and its fairly rare for them not to come up with decent advice. Earlier this year I received a pearl from my mother that came completely from left field- If all your problems are to do with money then you're not doing too bad. It struck a chord with me, of course she was right?! How many people in the world were in situations beyond the limitations of mastercard. People with terminal illness, broken families, serious addictions and mental illness, parents who'd lost children, victims of rape and sexual assault... there were many many worse things it seemed then debt.

My dad had a different take. Generous soul that he is, he told me I'd always be indebted to my parents and I should just get used to it. I'm guessing you can imagine which view was more readily accepted. But as the year winds on, I'm finding there to be more truth in the latter. Not because of the nature of debt itself- unfortunately time has shown that a large percentage of us will owe money to someone at some point in our lives. It's virtually unavoidable. The real problem is the the way we see this money.
Last year I was working partime, studying full time for the second half of the year, earning between 250 and 300 dollars a week. With 120 of that as rent a good 130-180 was my 'dispensable' income, that was food, transport, phone and extras. It was freaking tough, but I did it because my parents weren't Christian and I couldn't justify spending my time with God essentially at their expense. Admittadely God was exceptionally kind to me during this time, often I would receive tips from working at the restaurant that helped me pick up some slack.
For the first part of this year I worked full time earning 500 dollars a week, taking out about 170 a week for rents and bills that let 330 as my dispensable income. You've have thought with the extra 200 dollars a week I could've saved for something useful, and in many respects I did, funding the best part of my 21st and repaying some of the debt to my parents, as well as a setting 1200 aside for an insurance claim (my fault) and giving some to the church. But on the whole I enjoyed a period in my life when I didn't have to check the balance to see how much I could afford to spend on groceries.
I got used to security with my money. I found ways to enjoy it. This was not altogether a bad thing, but now, as I begin another semester at uni and face another period requiring discipline with my spending I am afraid and upset. I find it hard to rely on God's provision of grace and instead consider how I will repay the rest of the debt to my parents, my insurance registration in November, as well as go without comforts I have grown used to. True, if all our problems are money related we aren't doing too bad, but if all our fears are money related, if all our worries are money-related, if our decisions are determined by money ( and I am facing the decision of whether or not I can survive on 150 a week again!) then we aren't doing too good. In fact, we have a big problem, because it is harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
When my father told me I was to be indebted to my parents for the rest of my life, I failed to recognise how 'indebted' I am constantly to my heavenly Father. I failed to realise that if I could 'get used to it' he longs to provide for me even more abundantly then my earthly dad. That mightn't always mean smooth sailing, it mightn't even always mean monetary provision, but I can never be separated from him, and he promises to work for the good of me, as a chosen daughter of his.
Better then that the debt that I owe to him has already been paid.

Some thoughts on the ordination of gay leaders in the American Episcopal Church

I often feel like sitting in the Sydney Christian bubble is a very safe place to be. I find great comfort in the accountibility measures set in place by the different denominational hierarachies, by solid uni ministry, by beach mission, outreach to schools and even the Christian music scene. I love that we know not all the books at Koorong are foolproof guides to Christian living. I love most of all that we are challenged to think critically from scripture.
Unfortunately I also believe that in this sheltered environment we are being equipped for a ministry, in whatever shape and form that takes, to our less certain world. The truth is that in many places, scripture no longer justifies actions, particulalrly those of the church and it's members, as wholistically as it should. The American church's stance on gay ordination is a perfect example of how humans so often want to pick and choose their own beliefs.

Here's some excerpts from a recent news article (From the Amercian Chronicle, Aug 22nd) on the matter...

COLUMBIA The leader of South Carolina's largest Lutheran denomination said he believes congregations will be able to abide in faith with Friday's decision by the church's Worldwide Assembly to embrace the ordination of sexually active gay clergy who are in committed, monogamous relationships.

Amid impassioned pleas and prayers on both sides of the issue, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America became the latest mainstream Protestant denomination to move toward greater inclusion of gays and lesbians in the hierarchy of the church.

Bishop Herman R. Yoos III, elected last year as head of the South Carolina Synod, acknowledged that most South Carolina congregations would oppose the call of a gay pastor and would not "lift up" a homosexual candidate for the ministry.
But he denied opponents' charges that Friday's actions will split the denomination.
"Every congregation would be free to decide what to do," he said.

"I think if we look hard at it and live into it, I believe most of the churches in South Carolina will come around to it. It won't be an instantaneous thing." But he added, "I think there are deeply faithful, committed people who will say, 'Maybe this isn't what I wanted, but I'll be able to work through this.'"

It's a huge wake-up call to how I shift through scripture! Do I allow it to penetrate all my thoughts and actions? How simple it is to build structures that from the inside can look like they honor the claims of scripture but in essence are doing all they can to run from it's teaching. The other mistake I feel that is made in this issue deals with another problem, limiting scripture to purely its 1st century context and hence denying the omniscience (all knowing quality) of God. while context plays a huge role in how we understand scripture, it is important to understand what pertained specifically to the first Christians and what should also affect our own lives.

John Shelby Spong (the Episcopal Bishop of Newark, New Jersey 1991) in his book Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism (pg8) states this:

There are certain other places where homosexuality is condemned. Both the Torah and St Paul can be cited. However, the question of biblical authority arises anew, when scientific data, which the fifth and sixth century BCE authors of the Torah and St Paul could not have imagined, throws a new light on the origin and cause of homosexuality. Such data available today suggest that homosexual orientation is not a matter of choice but of ontology; that is, it is the being of the inidividual, not the doing.

Thoughts?

Dear God please change me, just not in any way I'll notice...

Isn't it the way! I don't know how many times I've recognised a change in the way I behave and then grieved the old habit! Dear Lord, please help me to dress more modestly brings about frustrations of looking frumpy, changes to my language has me feeling like I can't articulate myself (an out and out lie if ever there was one!), showing love to people at church I find difficult to be around makes me feel isolated and unengaged, using my money differently has me imagining what I could spend it on if only...

It's dumb hey! I'm a big fan of the theory that changing your behaviour can change your attitude, so long as you're consistent enough to make it through the initial phase, and pray that God can change your heart. We are of course, not promised that at all, it could be a struggle for us our whole lives, but I find God in his great mercy and desire for us to live in a godly manner usually blesses my experience.

I think the other thing that short-circuits our generation from implementing change is our instantaneous culture...if you understand the concept of twitter you'll know what I'm talking about. Gone are the days of progressive development, like it or not, we are used to getting what we want 10 seconds ago. Thus the concept of perservering through change is difficult for us to comprehend. Our attention span just isn't long enough.

It is however, what God wants for us, to align our will with his own, and that involves change. I'm still trying to work out both what I want and what God would want my character to look like tangibly, but I find it interesting to imagine myself as more temperate, humble or gentle. What would you like to see more of in yourself? If you could be described in a single word, what would you want it to be?

Hi?

Sometimes I get really frustrated that there's a whole congregation in my church I have very little contact with- the eldery congregation. What an absolutely precious group of people they are, often having lived as a Christian longer then I've been alive, with a mirrade of stories about God's grace, mercy, provision and teaching and yet because we're at opposite ends of a Sunday we never meet. I hope soon I will do more then just feel a longing to meet with them.

I'm sorry, I've never been to church, but can I have a lolly?

So I was sitting outside the Con today on our uni mission table (with a rather large packet of starburst chews grinning menacingly at me...) when a guy from my old history tute approached the table and asked, 'Sorry I've never been to church, but can I have a lolly?' To which I responded of course and tried to nonchalantly slip him an invitation to our thurs afternoon meeting...
But the irony of what he said really struck me as he was leaving- didn't he realise we were TARGETING people who didn't go to church? Like, what's the point of hunting down Christians to discuss whether all religions are the same, they've already made up their minds, right?
To us it's perfectly simple, but for other people I suppose the idea of someone who isn't Christian attending a Christian group meeting is a bit of a rarity.
It highlighted for me how important relational evangelism is, how people benefit from seeing your life in action. It also encouraged me to continue working at mission at the Con, because depite the fact that my friend lived in the largest city in one of the wealthiest, best informed and most accepting countries in the world, he had never been to church.

What would you have said to him?

For all you OT nerds...

I'm really appreciating the inundation of OT law teaching around in Syd at the moment. As cumbersome as it can be is as amazing as it is when it all makes sense. I've looked at Acts recently for my sunday school girls and found this amazing perspective on Pentecost.

The day called "Pentecost" is named after the Greek word pentekostos, which means "fiftieth." It is the only Old Testament festival that is determined by counting. On the day after the Sabbath after Passover, the ancient Israelites were to select a sheaf of the first grain that had been harvested in the spring. This grain then became an offering, and the priest waved it "before the Lord" (Leviticus 23:11-12).Pentecost was to be observed in ancient Israel on the fiftieth day "from" this Sunday (verse 15). (The Hebrew means "from" in the sense of "beginning with.") That meant seven weeks elapsed between the day of the first grain offering and the beginning of Pentecost. That’s why Pentecost was sometimes called the Feast of Weeks (Exodus 34:22; Leviticus 23:15; Numbers 28:26; Deuteronomy 16:9-12).The grain harvest was gathered after the token of the first gleaning of the grain was given as an offering. Since the counting of Pentecost was tied to this event and it came at the end of the spring grain harvest, Pentecost was sometimes called the Feast of the Harvest and Day of First Fruits (Exodus 23:16; Numbers 28:26).Judaism came to regard Pentecost as the anniversary of the giving of the law and the old covenant at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20–24). It is not surprising, then, that Pentecost would have a symbolic meaning for the church. It was the day when God once again manifested himself in a unique way, signaling a new relationship between God and his people. As E. William Neil summarizes it:Pentecost had also come to signify for Jews the commemoration of the giving of the Law at Sinai fifty days after the Exodus Passover. For Luke this, too, would be seen as having a Christian fulfilment in the giving of the Spirit fifty days after the Christian Exodus Passover, the Crucifixion and Resurrection. (The Acts of the Apostles, The New Century Bible Commentary, page 72)The Spirit coming in human minds was a kind of "second giving of the law;" the Spirit replaced the law as the guide for God's people. It was, in Paul’s expression, "the law of the spirit of life," which came through the new righteousness that is in Christ (Romans 8:1-2).

Could you get any Moore Anglican?

I would say that a Moore College degree is a sign you're a true Anglican, like sitting up the back, being afraid to raise your hands in 'worship', knowing the Nicene creed backwards and keeping a stash of two ways to live handouts in your handbag. (It's an accepted fact that all good godly women bought a bigger handbag to fit the Essential Jesus booklets this year, but that's another story for another day...)

But my question is, what qualifies someone to teach? There is frequently lay teaching at my church at the moment, from great, respectable, godly men of varying ages and none of them have been to Moore. Conversely I've also been in the situation where I felt someone untrained was taking on a role beyond himself.

Is it just a matter of check listing off 1 Tim 3? Should untrained people be double-checked by someone at least more experienced? What about church planters and rural churches? Does the importance of spreading the gospel in its simplicity over-rule the fact that teaching further down the track isn't as spot on? Are these people considered 'false teachers'?...

1Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer,[a] he desires a noble task. 2Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5(If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) 6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap. [1 Tim 3:1-7]

10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. [1 Cor 3:10-15]

Singleness and Marriage

It's a big one, many questions, many opinions. 1 Cor 7, Paul's account on marriage and singleness is probably the most quoted on the topic, and yet even then the nuts and bolts of it are difficult to tie down.
*Is marriage just an answer to man's sinful desires? Why then was there perfect marriage in the garden and why does Christ depict Himself as a bridegroom to the church? (Rev 21: 9-10)

*Why does Paul speak of people 'controlling themselves' as 'better' then marriage?

*Are circumstances different if someone has been married before and is now widowed?

*What is it to burn with passion, and as convoluded as it sounds does that include attraction? Should people who feel committed to singleness pack it in if they continue to be attracted to people, or 'learn to control their wills?'

*What about people who burn with passion but God chooses for them not to be married, isn't that the very reason it was made?

36If anyone thinks he is acting improperly toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if she is getting along in years and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married. 37But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin—this man also does the right thing. 38So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does even better.[b]
39A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. 40In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is—and I think that I too have the Spirit of God. [1 Cor 7:36-40]

All thoughts gratefully received...

I swear I don't know anything about yoga...

...and yet I mention meditations, and 19 of them?

As much as I enjoy the enigma, the real inspiration is by far more beautiful...

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart, be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer are the words of David in Psalm 19:14, and a real challenge to my own life, both personal and public.

What I would really love this blog to be is a place where we can discuss different 'meditations' that crop up at different times and stages of our Christian walk. It's essentially an open slather; whatever you want it to be. I know I've had great conversations at different times with many of you (that were undoubtably pleasing to God!)and could think of nothing better then consolidating all the knowledge God has given us to throw around things we've been challenged by, that have made us think or built our understanding of Him.

I hope that God would guard my words and meditations, as well as your own, that we might all bring glory to him. I hope that through learning more about Him, our bodies would be renewed and transformed more and more into His likeness. I pray that together we could discuss the hard stuff, sincerely seeking answers that will allow us to serve God more effectively in our lives.

I don't want this space to be my own. I would love you to comment. Please, don't be shy, let's think hard together.

:)