How I aim to think critically

• A love sandwich. Start positive, end positive, improvements/reflections in the middle. With a liberal sprinkling of honesty and love.
• Not to be so guarded and apologetic and positive that I don't actually say anything. Or worse still, not even give an opinion if I do hold one strongly.
• Question to ask when coming into contact with cultural differences from my Christian heritage: What are the strengths, and how do they highlight deficiencies in my cultural heritage?
• I don't want to simply be negative and critical in the name of 'discernment'. I don't want to harm fellowship with people I think are, in all honesty, doing great things under God.
• I don't want to be a small applauder.

I planted

I planted.
Sarah watered.
But God gave the growth.

Reflections on Engage 2010

The Katoomba Christian Convention is a great multi-denomination Christian ministry. KCC is the home of, 'Big: preaching. Big: Crowd. Big: Mountains. Big:Changes.'  Two weekends ago, Sarah and I were volunteers at one of their six annual conventions, on this occasion it was the first weekend of the Engage Conference for young workers.

The concept behind Engage is brilliant. In many ways its very existence is as a result of KCC's own success. The thousands of teenagers that formerly frequented the Katoomba Youth Convention (KYC) - which has since folded and been re-launched with an extra 'K' as KYCK - these same teens are now the young workers who are consistently selling out 1-2 weeks of the Engage conference. That's about 3000 people a year. But more than coming from the success of KYC, Engage arose from perceiving a need and then filling it. The transition from uni to the workforce is where a lot of individuals are losing contact with our churches. Thus the challenge is to get young workers to engage with Jesus, engage with their churches and, well, get them to Engage.

This year speaking was Tim Blencowe (a local Baptist dude) and Steve Timmis (The other half of Crowded House with Neil Finn). Both are godly and gifted men who served us well.

Some reflections from the weekend.

1. The motto for Engage is, 'Late starts and coffee carts'. This is a weekend for workers, so each day starts late, there are free newspapers available when you arrive Saturday morning for the 10:30 session, and there is a constant stream of coffee coming from the coffee carts. The whole thing was built ground up for workers. Having a clear, specific focus enables the details to simply fall into place. And its the details which make this weekend loved by workers, many of whom expect excellence Monday to Friday and appreciate it in all things.

2. Steve Timmis is from the Crowded House gospel community network, along with perhaps the more well known Tim Chester. The emphasis of these gospel communities is about trying to helpfully recapture the organic nature of church. Make it less about the event and more about sharing life. The irony police have scared me off using the word ironic, but surely this qualifies: Steve Timmis having to cut off half his talk due to time constraints on the meeting. So much for organic church life - there's nothing organic about the clock!

3. Apart from learning that I'll never be cool enough to be a Baptist preacher, the general teaching of the weekend was far removed from my cultural heritage of straight exegesis. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Tim especially used a fascinating way of unpacking Titus, which Ali sums up well. He started with a proposition: Because of the reformation, evangelicals are scared of talking about good works, but Christians are made in order to walk in them. He then spent two talks unpacking this proposition. It was good. I learnt a bunch about Titus and especially how good works is mentioned throughout the letter. There was plenty of personal challenge for me too.

4. Structurally, Tim's talk was thematic. But unfortunately, due to the time constraints, what Steve cut out of his talks was the exegesis. He started down that line, but then in both talks pretty much went straight to his conclusions (with a few tangents). So pretty much there was very little straight reading and analysis of the Bible in any of the talks. Personally I think with two speakers I'm a fan of the old AFES NTE method where one speaker was charged with the task of exegeting a book, the other with some form of systematics. That way, the basics don't get missed. 

5. I must have missed the memo, but at some point, every KCC speaker must have got together and decided that the church is fundamentally ignorant in our application of our creation theology. The kind of 'redeeming creation' vibe. This weekend, it was about redeeming the good in our work, making sure we work for excellence, ensuring we do good. I'm hearing this more and more and more, which is all good. It's probably prophetic to some degree. But I'm concerned when redeeming creation is starting to get equal billing with the gospel. The balance hasn't tipped yet, but it ain't too far away. At the moment its simply good critiquing of the church.

6. There was lots of talk about 'good works' from both speakers. The logic as far as I understood it was, these are workers, therefore lets talk about good works. Get it? I didn't see the profound connection. Its there somewhere, but I saw no clarity in this matter.

7. Its clear from the choice of Steve Timmis as a conference speaker that Engage were emphasising every member ministry. This is great. One of the interviewers during the weekend also mentioned how this conference was set-up "For those who have decided that vocational ministry is not for them, and that  they will be serving God by remaining in the workforce." All good. And yet, that wasn't who I was seeing at the conference. I saw a handful of keen uni students attracted by the speakers, I was seeing a bunch of generally well-educated uni graduates many of whom were the leaders amongst their various university ministries or churches. I think the emphasis of the conference against vocational ministry was sadly misdirected. Vocational ministry got mentioned positively once, during a throwaway line near the end of one of the talks, and negatively probably five times. More than that, one of the interviewees was a guy who probably had the worst of worst MTS apprenticeship experiences. He called it something like, 'The worst two years of my life'. But thankfully now he was doing something he loved in performing arts. Fair enough, it happens. And the young bloke spoke honestly and well. The emphasis in the interview wasn't on hating ministry but ethically navigating performing arts. But seriously, what's with the anti-ministry vibe of the weekend? The call for all should be the call to the gospel, with the emphasis that this will mean some of us need to reconsider what we're currently doing.

In the name of full disclosure, I'm reading my personal experience into my critique. Through my years involved with uni students, I've spent a lot of time trying to convince young health professionals to give up the job they love to do vocational ministry. These are Christians who love their work, love helping people (they are health professionals) and love using the skills they laboured through uni to attain. But when I continue to get bombarded with the many shortages of full-time paid gospel workers across Australia and the world, I am compelled to try to encourage those who are leaders, and are teachable, and are godly, and have a firm trust in Jesus, to give up their jobs that they love, in order to give an extra fifty hours a week to serving Jesus. These people have everything going for them except the desire. That is, the desire to be in 'ministry'. And my personal read is that many of these people who rightly love their jobs, need to hear the call of the gospel again with the gentle (not overt) encouragement to consider if they should leave said job. These people don't need further motivation to stay safe in their professions. We don't need to stoke that fire. I'm not saying Engage must be another MTS Challenge conference, but I am certain there is a way of preaching the gospel which both encourages those who will stay in the workforce to be gospel-minded, yet also lighting a fuse under those who should go. Even those who thought they'd already decided not to go.

The temptation here is, in creating a conference for young workers, we simply find a way to justify what we're already doing without the call to consider a change in direction based on gospel priorities. I don't see too many 'Big: changes' coming from what I heard on the weekend I was there. There was more the vibe of 'whatever you're doing now, its the right thing to be doing'. That kind of level of comfort doesn't sit well with me. 

Let me finish with a word of personal testimony. I was once a radiographer. That hurts me to say. I loved radiography. I loved going to work, I loved the people I worked with. I loved talking to the patients. I loved being paid a lot to do very little. I loved the way you could finish a day and have achieved measurable outcomes. And you know what? I mourn no longer being a radiographer. Sarah would testify about the times I lie awake at night thinking of going back. I try and work out ways I can keep a foot in the profession (usually involving taking my 'day off'). But I'm slowly realising that that is no longer me. I need to let it go, and cast aside that which is holding me back. I helped one of the students from uni get my old job, and Sarah and I got an email from her just last week saying how much she was enjoying the work. And all the old emotions came back again. Surely I can keep doing it, somehow? It takes the grace of God encouraging me through others to not go back to that which I loved. And yet the encouragement of my peers has me continuing on, floundering, exhausted, oftentimes incompetant at this little thing called serving God's people. The secular workforce pulls strong at my heartstrings. This is what is driving my own hurt at the unquestioned justification of remaining in secular work from Engage.

Some of you might be thinking I'm trying to justify my new position as a 'minister'. But that's not how I see it. Had I never left radiography, I would be of no more value to God. In many ways my life would be simpler. But, as others and myself feel God has given me certain abilities, if I stayed I would be of no less value to God, but I would be of less value to God's people.

There are many struggles that I have and continue to have in ministry. If its not the lies of Satan telling me that I'm just not made of the right stuff for this gospel work thingy, its usually the complete opposite - the pride or wrong motivations of being in a public role. And yet I'm haunted. I'm haunted by the ghost of about ten conversations I've had since I first made the choice to start an apprenticeship about three years ago. I was bombarded by men, and sometimes their wives. Older men in the faith, some from my home church. These men have served God mightily through their secular work. They have worked hard, given generously, served excessively. They are the backbone of their church. And yet these men who have done so much are ravaged with regret. For though they have done a great thing in God's sight by working hard for him, each of these guys thought about vocational ministry, and for one reason or another, decided against it. In hindsight, they know the cost of that decision, and despite what they have done, they know it gives just a taste of what more they might have done. If only.

I love Engage. It's a great initiative and a great ministry. I'm certain most delegates would have been strengthened in their faith in Jesus and resolve to serve him at work, through the weekends of the conference. But I hope many of those same delegates are continuing to be restless in their jobs. To always be desiring to be able to be even more effective servants of Christ. And I pray that many of them through the encouragement of Christians and the call of the gospel will lay aside their careers, to take those extra fifty hours a week to serve Jesus even more. And Engage will still be there, helping those who stay to be most effective, and continuing to agitate those who have that little thought in the back of their mind about paid ministry.

Bah, Humbug!

The other day I exposed my heart of stone by revealing that I wasn't a fan of the hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.

Everyone's favourite blogger Ben, put my hard-heartedness into words when he described this particular song as being,

about some dude called Ebenezer, and how he got a raise at work for being blessed with the way he uses fonts. I just assume he was a holy guy, which is why we get to sing about him a fair bit.

The reason I'm revisiting this post is because Gary sounded off in the comments with this pearler,

I thought you young people just used your phones to google for answers to questions like these while the announcements are being given.  

Here's a helpful excerpt: "This fine text about divine grace and providence contains various biblical images: Christ is the "fountain of life" (Ps. 36:9; Zech. 13:1) from which "streams of mercy" come. But Christ is also our "rock" (often used in the psalms along with "mount" or "Ebenezer," which means "stone of help"); he "rescues me from danger." Christ also "sought me when a stranger" (Col. 1:21) and "binds" or "seals" his own even when they are "prone to wander" (see Matt. 18:11-14)." 

This line carries particular poignancy given that Roger Robinson, the hymn's author, "became successively a Calvinist Methodist, Congregationalist, Baptist, and finally a Unitarian." (Not that there's necessarily a causal link between that movement, btw.) Info from this link: http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/PsH/486

And no, I don't think that every phrase in every hymn, prayer or reading has to be instantly understandable to every hearer. Christian worship is not an episode of 'Hi-5'. 

It should challenge toward growth in understanding and expression of Christian truth, not limit itself to the comprehension of the most ignorant.

That could perhaps be the most fun way I've ever been labelled 'ignorant' in my life.

The question for me is how many layers of antiquated language do you want to wrap a song in. I mentioned in another of the comments in response to Ruth that,

this particular song, there's just one too many words/funny expressions that push me over the edge into the land of confusion. As Ben has helpfully pointed out, there is some guy in there called Ebenezer, someone else is interposing (I think this means playing a song in a different key), we're singing about 'founts of blessing' and 'mounts of unchanging love'. Antiquated doesn't equal bad. Often the language helps us to think further about the lyrics. In this case, I'm just confused.

But for Gary's benefit, let's do a quick word association game. Okay, say the first thing that pops into your head when I say 'Ebenezer'...

...

'Scrooge', I hear you say? What about the second thing? 'Charles Dickens'? 'Bah Humbug!'? 'A Christmas Carol'? 'Ghost of Christmas past'?

Okay, who said, 'Stone of the Help'? I'm guessing two people - Gary and Roger Robinson.

Incidentally, I'm still home sick and I haven't been able to get the song out of my head now for three days.

I volunteered at Engage and all I got was this horrible cold

It's not really true. I got more out of the Engage conference than just a cold. But today marks my first sick day off college for the year. Hot drinks and West Wing episodes are the order of the day. I was ushering at the Engage conference this past weekend in the cool winds of Katoomba. I woke up Sunday morning on deaths door, but pushed through the headaches, the blocked nose, the sore throat and the mild vertigo to still be of some benefit as an usher. Closet germaphobes will be pleased to know I chose the role where I had least contact with people.

The Engage conference is for young workers. One of the organisational peculiarities is each delegate has their paper ticket replaced with one of those rubber wristbands when they first show up. As ushers/bouncers we aren't allowed to let people in the auditorium if they don't have their wristband. If they've left it in the car they've got to go back and get it, or else pay $5 to get it replaced. I'm told its a safety thing. But still, it feels a bit wrong accusing Christians of dishonesty and not buying a ticket. Well, at least it felt wrong for a while.

This 'thinking well' of people is a clear example of my doctrine of sin not being applied to real life expectations.

I don't know if you've ever ushered at a Christian conference, but let me tell you, it's discouraging. You can make eye contact, have a big smile, throw your arms up in the direction you want people to go... and they'll completely ignore you. That's right, your friendly Christian usher is ignored or disrespected or just plain rebelled against. At one stage, a fellow usher and I were just lied to right to our face. People had two options: the coffee tables or the main seating area. We were trying to encourage people into the main seating unless they said 'We want a table.' About five groups in a row, as we pointed them into the second row said, 'No, we're getting a table'. That was fine until they walked straight past us, past the tables and into the tenth row of seats. If you really care that much about not sitting at the front, just tell us. Don't lie about it.

One more gripe: If you're waiting for people, perhaps you could meet outside before coming in. That way you wouldn't have to cordon off 37 chairs for your entourage and then protect those seats for the next 30 minutes from well-meaning people who are trying to fill-up the empty chairs. It's especially frustrating when those 37 people are on the other side of the auditorium madly trying to protect your seat as well.

Okay, so maybe the cold is making me a bit grumpy. But I haven't seen such rampant disobedience to authority since my Scripture teaching days at Lidcombe Primary School.

However, I still hope to usher again next year. I see this disobedience not purely as a discouragement, but also as a challenge! Next year I'm bringing a whistle. I want to be like one of those British cops who doesn't speak, just points you in the right direction as a shrill blast issues forth from the whistle. If people disobey, I'll just whistle louder. I'm banking on shame being a stronger motivating force than obedience.

A good 'brew

A lot of Hebrew words sound rude. Even mature Bible college students (I'm told they exist) are not above noticing such peculiarities. I'm told there was one Hebrew lecture from Andrew Shead last year had the current Moore College second year struggling to stifle their immature sniggering as one particular word (woman in construct?) was repeated consistently throughout the lecture.

Unfortunately the naughty sounding words, and the English equivalent are often most easily remembered through word association using the offending term. Basically the dirtier the memory hook, the more it sticks in the mind. This is causing great anguish within my heart.

Who would have thought learning Hebrew would be working so much against my holiness?

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Sometimes I find myself expressing feelings which sound like they're, well, un-Christian. Not non-Christian, just un-Christian.

So, here it is.

I really don't like singing Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. There, I've said it*. It seems we're singing Come Thou Fount everywhere of late. After now singing it probably a dozen times, I'm still baffled. I've got little to no idea what the song is actually about.

* Whilst ducking to avoid being struck by lightning.

An ethical dilemma

Should a Christian tick the box that says "I have read and accept the terms and conditions" if they haven't read them?

Because I always do, even though I never have.

Even more from Moore College Revue 2010

These two videos are pretty much the funniest thing I've ever seen. If you haven't watched any of these Revue videos I've posted, the second video below, The Castle on King, was my highlight of the evening.

Tim Chester at Moore College

Tim Chester spoke at college yesterday. He's from the Crowded House church network (And apparently they named themselves as such with complete knowledge of the band which shares their moniker). Tim had lots of great stuff to say about the way God uses community to draw people to himself. He encouraged us to love the people in our fellowship. He spoke against the over-formalised nature of our gatherings, and that as people walk past our homes and peer in at what's going on, it is our homes that should stand out amongst the culture as places of lightness in a dark world.

The best question to come during question time was from one of my fellow first year students who asked, "You've spoken a lot about sharing our lives, opening our homes, doing life together. But in Sydney Anglican churches the roster is king. How do we achieve this organically, without it just becoming another roster?"

Some reflections;
1. This house-church-ish movement are not a cult. Nor are they insular. This would be to caricature the western house church movement. That said, in my experience, many people drawn to this type of fellowship are significantly more likely to be cult-ish, insular and dare I say it, home school their children. But this is a sociological deficiency, not a structural one. We have much to be rebuked by those holding to this more organic way of sharing our lives. It is against boundaries.

2. Tim spoke about how the church family is his place of rest, not the people he needs to take a holiday from. This is not to say he doesn't need time alone, but he doesn't set up too many barriers to keep these people away. I have a friend who in seeking to revitalise a church said to me, 'There are enemies to the gospel here that are working against me and others.' He is one of the most gracious pastors I know, and yet the fellowship are not his place of rest. But thanks to history and tradition they are part of this group in which he serves. I'm not saying you have to be best friends with everyone in the gathering to be able to rest with them. But the application of these principles with the hangovers of nominalism and history are infinitely magnified.

3. Through the interwebs and at college, I've come into contact with some Christian brothers and sisters in Sydney who highlight many of the same emphases as Crowded House. They call themselves The Joshua Tree. The house-chruch-ish movement (and I know this is the wrong language) can appear to be 'some gadfly on the rump of institutionalism', as it was suggested in the past I was portraying them. And I hate to say it, but I really think they are the aforementioned gadflies. Not by design of course, but because they provide a timely rebuke and encouragement for us all to reassess our priorities and view of ministry and church.

4. These groups appear anti-organisation, though they are not. If God blesses these movements, and there is every indication that he has and will, then eventually, the organsational structures to train leaders, share resources and care for one another will eventually be created. Thus, when we hear the critique, we mustn't drag out the sledgehammer and start destroying our structures. Instead we ask again how the structures are best serving our goals. It's one thing to slag off the Bible College method of training leaders. But we've got to be prepared to build it again if we destroy it and then discover it actually was beneficial. And to rebuild it to where it was, will take the same amount of time as it did in the first place, if not longer.

5. It seems to me the differences with Crowded House and more institutional churches are not always that great. In many ways, if they're both working well, they can look very similar. I go back to Sean's question, about not making community just another roster. What this movement seems to be emphasising is unintentional ministry - just doing life together to proclaim the gospel. It is being deliberately deliberate hoping that what comes out the other end is a kind of unintentional ministry. It's trying to get the roster to happen without the roster. And that, in the end, has to be a good thing.

Just the two of us?

If there's one sure fire way to get evangelicals to quote Bible verses out of context and offer half-baked psychological advice in the guise of Christian wisdom, then it's in facing the reality of infertility.

For the past two years, Sarah and I have faced the toughest season of our short marriage, as we've dealt with the reality of infertility. Medically our chances have improved, psychologically - well, depends what day of the week it is. Thankfully, those closest to us have offered sound biblical comfort, a shoulder to cry on, and best of all - they've had our backs. But to be honest, our marriage has at times been battered by the storm, and thankfully for the most part we've huddled together for comfort.

Sarah has recently finished reading a book on the subject of infertility called 'Just the two of us?', which she cannot commend highly enough. Her first recommendation was to me. I'm starting the book tonight!

I know a lot of people in vocational ministry read this blog. Helpfully and unhelpfully, the Bible talks a lot about infertility and the reality of life means we care for (whether knowingly or unknowingly) people going through this pain. The opportunities for us to say stupid things are seemingly endless. I know because they've been said to me, usually by people with no knowledge of our personal situation, but people who should know better.

Once I've read the book I'll have further reflections for pastors, but off the top of my head, some thoughts;
1. Long before I was married, one of my mothers in faith, Tracey Gowing, taught me and Sarah to say, 'If the Lord chooses to bless us with children...'. I have no idea if she taught us the actual phrase, but the right expectations behind it certainly came from her lips. For the first three years of our marriage, as we talked about what size car we'd need, how many kids, favourite names, all the usual hopeful banter, the phrase we were taught was just a meaningless liturgy. Pretty much like when people who have just finished the book of James, insist on finishing every sentence with "If the Lord wills". Tracey and our other staffworker Martin Field, also got us to think through issues of infertility before we were married. The day when our doctor told us the four worst words ever to pass my ears, "It's not good news", we were spared so much of the grief. All because of the pastoral awareness and faithful understanding of life that Trace and Marty instilled in our young minds. This right expectation has protected our marriage like nothing else. Prepare your people for suffering!

2. If you are teaching a part of the Bible that mentions infertility, it is essential you acknowledge the pain of it all. If you don't say another thing about it, acknowledge the sadness that infertility brings.

3. If your application has any hint of an assumption that God will eventually give the blessing of children, you're almost certainly speaking hogwash, and should probably be taken out the back and shot. If you're only dealing with the issue in passing, just acknowledge the pain and then be quiet on the matter.

4. I'm sure the book will promote my thinking further, but from what Sarah has communicated, the book highlights the application of infertility in the Bible is usually not about the blessing of children, but the spiritual blessings which come from salvation in Jesus. This is the blessing, which gives us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

More thoughts will flow another time.

Read Sarah's review of the book.

Moore College Revue 2010

Here's the first two vids. The theme this year (In honour of Tim Chester from Crowded House) was 'Sub-Total Church: Community on a Budget'.

More from the Moore College Revue

Sorry if all these videos crash your browser, but here's some more classics from the Moore Revue.

Moore College Revue

I will post the hilarious offerings from this year as they come online. Until then, here are a few videos from previous Revues.

The Christian's Guide to Busyness

I'm too busy to read my copy. What does this say about me?

Crowd Control

I thought it was a disease that only plagued children's ministry leaders. Yet it appears that Moore College lecturers too, are not above the 'crowd control prayer'.

We've all been there.

The Moore College Diaries 10/08/2010

Wife in tears. I was the one rushing to get my assignment in on time, while she - ever the more diligent student - had finished hours before, and was simply waiting around for me to get my act together. But alas, she had done everything to submit it online, but hadn't clicked the final button.

That's one of the good things about the old assignment box, you never forgot to press 'Upload'.

And to make matters worse, her email to the faculty member who might be able to assist her, sounds like the whole story is simply made-up.

It's only five percent, but it's a matter of principle. The assignment was done, and when the deadline clicked over, Sarah was sleeping soundly.

Hmm... grace or law?

We'll see.

Death by Chocolate

To whom it may concern,

I don't know why I did it. But I admit it was a horrible mistake. There are explanations which I want to hide behind, but let's cut to the chase. It was just simply too long. I know it, you knew it (Oh, how I could tell you knew it!), and I apologise. I swear I don't love the sound of my own voice. I know it's hard to believe, but despite the evidence I really did attempt to edit that talk. Was it ruthless? Hardly. But without ruth it should have been, indeed. I know you think I must have included everything I learnt while locked in my study planning my verbal indulgence, but this too is mistaken. Why, were I to be even more deluded it appears I could have spoken for eternity.

I was merely ill-disciplined. It is all one can say, as they access the damage. A lack of self-control. Why won't I just be quiet already and sit down?

Now to be fair, there are a series of reasons for my excessive length which offer if not justification, at least move towards explanation. For the aforementioned sermon series was originally conceived for a university meeting where I had up to 40 minutes to speak. Having been conceived in this particular forum the thrust of the argument was necessarily detailed. Yet when it came to editing, I had in my mind gained a personal attachment to the detail of the logic. I had, to some degree firmly attached myself as some kind of leech, to the points which I was making. Unable to be prised from the conceptual broader talk structure, deletions became necessarily difficult to entertain (though I certainly tried). Furthermore, when covering three chapters of the Bible, there is inevitably going to be some length necessary to faithfully represent the Biblical text. And yet, when I sit back and reflect, none of these "reasons" are any real "reason" at all. No, these are merely the final repulsive, dying convulsions of a serial bore.

Well, here it is: my vow.

Next week, for my final talk I shall not pass 22 minutes. Even if this means deleting literally every second sentence of my existing script wherefore the meaning of my speech may become somewhat irretrievably veiled. This drastic step may not be necessary, but I shall not pass 22 minutes, I will not pass go, and I will not collect $200.

To scoop from the pit of empty cliches, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Never again shall I force feed the congregation my seemingly unending drivel, at the cost of brevity and clarity.

I am, as it were, a new man.

Suspicious wife smells collar

You always see it in the movies. A philandering husband arrives home guilty but as yet unexposed, only to be discovered through the intuition of his wife and the faint remnant of female perfume that lingers on his collar.

Sarah cuddled into me today as I arrived home and walked through the door.

A second later...

Have you been eating hot chips?

Caught. Guilty. KFC snack box. Shame.

Bible Study Fail

I enjoy my weekly Bible Study/Growth Group/Home Group/Fellowship Group (It's only one group, but I'm being inclusive in my branding). The only thing I dislike about it, is because our leaders have kids we don't start the study until 8pm. Seeing as Bible College has turned me into an old man, that's just about my tune out and start to fall asleep time. The eyes glaze over, the ears tune out, the eyelids feel heavy. I'm not the kind to actually fall asleep, but my involvement is minimal.

I woke myself up last night by glancing at a verse on my page which said,

Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook? (Job 41:1)

And I thought it said, 'Can you pull in the leviathan with Facebook?'

Thankfully I didn't think out loud, and so I was the only one who noticed by sleep dazed stupidity. To be honest, I'm surprised I was even thinking at all. Maybe I should get over my aversion to drinking coffee, for the sake of alertness.

God is in the sky

My sister and brother in law are doing an excellent job raising their two kids. It was a great joy to hang out with the four Northern Territorians during our last holidays and see how the children were being raised to know and love Jesus.

My brother in law Shannan, is doing an especially good job. But he is quickly discovering his teaching as a father has far reaching implications. Many Christian parents have struggled with trying to find ways of teaching the concepts of God in ways that are accessible to kids.

Shannan decided one of his first lessons would be introducing God's omnipresence. So as Zethan (the two and a half year old) was talking to his Dad while they were lying down in bed, Shannan was explaining that, 'God is up in the sky'.

Zethan replied,

Can we shut the blinds, so God can't see us?

Zethan - 1. Shannan - 0.

A few days later Zethan said,

When it's night, God has turned the light out.

Which is kind of true.
Zethan - 1. Shannan - 1.

Shannan then jokingly said, 'And when the sky is blue, God is wearing a blue shirt'.
Zethan - 2. Shannan - 1.

On reflection, maybe it would have been best to start with, 'God is everywhere'. That said, I can hear Zethan's reply already,

Does that mean I'm standing on God?

New Barney's Coming Soon

Not sure if I posted this on the blog. I was going to track down a photo but I couldn't be bothered.

St Barnabas' Broadway burnt down a few years ago. They've since been meeting at Moore College, but a sign went up recently on the empty site;

New Barney's coming soon.

Continuing the battle of the signs which Barney's is famous for, someone has scrawled below;

That's what you said about Jesus.

The Library

Nothing says Moore College like... seeing a male student* exiting the toilets with a copy of John Stott's commentary of Ephesians tucked under his arm.

*This may or may not have been me.

It takes a village to raise a marriage

It seems every person has been affected by marriage breakdown. Whether personally, or those close to you, the shocking reality of separation and divorce leaves an ugly stain on our lives, our families, and on our broader Christian community.

It's shocking and depressing how early in my life, even amongst dear friends of mine, that I too have been affected by this sadness, and tasted the bitterness of marriage breakdown.

I don't need to convince you of the pain.

So I'm extremely thankful for Moore College, in the way they are seeking to protect the marriages of their students. There is no magic pill to save a marriage, but like cars - marriages benefit from a regular service. Lecturer Keith Condie and his wife Sarah, led a bunch of married first years through the first stage of a marriage enrichment course on Saturday. It was a very precious time, of being deliberate in protecting our marriages.

One particular thing Keith said, struck really close to home for me.

"They say it takes a village to raise a child, well its true too of marriage."

There is a sense where it takes the entire community to help protect marriages. And even more so amongst Christians. I think thats why one particular marriage break up amongst my friends continues to haunt me. One aspect of the whole messy business still saddens me: It was a surprise. They never said anything, and I never asked. So while I don't think I was proactive in helping protect that union, my failure was magnified by theirs. They didn't seek help. That union has since ended completely, and time has now passed and its not causing me to lose sleep. But I have, a number of times, been drawn back to often helpful speculations about ways as a couple they failed to engage with other Christians, and how as a community we (and I) failed to serve them. It really does take a village to raise a marriage.

Further thoughts from the marriage day;
1. The repentance/forgiveness dynamic of the Christian life, means every day is a fresh start for our marriages. Every day is a fresh start. In other words, it's never too late. It's never easy, either. But it's never too late to have a fresh start as long as both partners remain committed to making it work. Mind you, this should be a redundant comment, for the whole concept of marriage is tied up with the freedom that comes from the irreversibility of the commitment. That is, you are committed to making it work every day.

2. I sometimes call Sarah 'mate' or 'bro'. I've been mocked for it before. But remaining friends is central to making marriage work.

3. Loosely related to the marriage day, Sarah was telling me recently that single guys don't know how to relate to married women, so on the whole they ignore them. I've been testing her theory by observation, and I reckon it's pretty spot on.

No doubt more reflections will come over the next few weeks.

By the way, that picture is from my own wedding day. We asked a couple of family friends who are keen amateur photographers, to be our drivers. So while our photographer was snapping away, the drivers were taking some really cool reverse angles and the like. Some of them came up a treat.