How not to structure a sentence in your sermon

From the wedding speech at Prince Willie's wedding:

As we move towards our partner in love, following the example of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is quickened within us and can increasingly fill our lives with light. This leads to a family life which offers the best conditions in which the next generation can practise and exchange those gifts which can overcome fear and division and incubate the coming world of the Spirit, whose fruits are love and joy and peace.

I have no idea what this means.

But let me try and flowchart it for you.

h/t Bainsey on fb

Putting the Number Back in Numbers

I've recently finished off an essay on Numbers 25:4-13 (Phinehas killing an Israelite who was getting busy [read as bizz-ay] with a Midianite, so Phinehas speared them through the stomach) and its relationship to an Old Testament theology of atonement. Now I'm not going to bore you with my essay answer (at least not yet), but I did want to bore you with an age-related law which was found within Numbers.

As part of my study I carefully read through Numbers looking for sections that anticipated and ultimately would help explain chapter 25. But what caught my attention along the way was the age-related conditions on service in the temple.

This is what it says in Numbers 4:1-3:

The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, "Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their clans and their fathers’ houses, from thirty years old up to fifty years old, all who can come on duty, to do the work in the tent of meeting.

And again Numbers 8:23-26:

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "This applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting. And from the age of fifty years they shall withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more. They minister to their brothers in the tent of meeting by keeping guard, but they shall do no service. Thus shall you do to the Levites in assigning their duties."

Now of course, I would never want to argue this as prescriptive of today's Christian ministers. Moving from the Old Testament to modern application is always difficult, especially in relation to priests as Jesus is our great high priest, and we affirm the priesthood of all believers. Yet it is interesting to ponder these age restrictions. 

At first I thought the "late-blooming" of (25 or 30) might have to do with the increased life expectancy (Moses lived to 120), but there is a retirement age as well (50). Why on earth are there age limits on firstly, allowing a Levite to start working in the temple, and then the age to ship him out to pasture?

At the very least (and I am aware it is different for everyone), there is a time when people reach maturity, and there is a time when people need to retire from a particular role. I love hearing of young blokes stepping up to take responsibility. But there is also a particular beauty in old blokes stepping down. Not in the sense of being pushed, or no longer being of value, or simply having "passed their use-by date", but in recognising 'I've had my time, now others must take the baton'.

Because its never pretty when they hold on too long. Or for that matter, when the young ones start too early.

Who am I?

Insecurity is never attractive. But if you'll allow me a little taste of 'Dear diary' for a moment, I've been suffering a bit of an existential blogging crisis. This crisis is partly to blame for my lack of posts of late. That, and college, and some time-consuming personal stuff going on for Sarah and I.

Lately, I've been feeling like I shouldn't be speaking, or more specifically, blogging. Who am I to have an opinion that anyone else cares about? Sure, I say that the purpose of this blog is for my personal reflection. But by putting it "out there" I'm saying something about the value of my thoughts for others.

It's not that I feel I'm being overly negative, or critical, or proud, or arrogant, or abusive, or fame-seeking. In fact, quite the opposite. I've gotten in more trouble than its worth in saying things in this strange beast that is blogdom.

But who am I to say anything? I'm no ministry guru. I haven't done anything! I don't lead a church, I'm no expert on reaching Gen Y, I don't want to plant a church, I haven't won swathes of converts, I'm not an expert on anything, I haven't, I haven't, I haven't, I just haven't. I am Mr. Nobody. My Mr. Nobody hardly deserves capitals. I'm mr. nobody.

So shut-up and do something, you say. Well, that's what I've been doing. This is no ivory tower from which I throw my barbs on the unsuspecting tiny kingdom that is the few evangelicals who wander across my blog (and the unfortunate sods who google "Hillsong experience").

But I have found myself being decidedly less reflective since I've stopped blogging. I just haven't got the personal discipline to journal or whatever it is that 13 year old girls do these days to collect their thoughts.

I don't even know why I'm writing this now. I guess to give you an insight into my absence in the blogosphere of late. This is not simply my 6 monthly cry-outs for people to come and say, "No, we love your bad puns and you are significant you little rapscallion."

I warned you. Insecurity is never attractive.

Worst opening line to a song for people with lisps

Consider Christ, the source of our salvation.

Falling in love all over again

With The Briefing.

I nearly unsubscribed a few months ago, because money was tight, I hadn't read the last 6 months worth, which just piled up on my desk. I was overrun with college readings and, well, I wasn't getting value for money because I don't even own a coffee table they could sit on. Plus, my mate joked for a while that, "It's just book reviews these days".

However, after chatting with another friend I decided to re-subscribe. As a big fan of Matthias Media and of the idea of The Briefing, I thought its a way of supporting them and also in the hope that another 12 months would get me back on the reading wagon. Well, I'm back, baby. And loving every minute of it.

Did you read the April edition?

• Three great 'Couldn't Help Noticing' articles. Sure, not as blatantly opinionated as the old 'lead balloon' column they used to have, but there was something here for everyone – a pop culture piece from Bolty, some protestant basics from Lionel Windsor, and another subtle corrective to the rhetoric of many church-planters from Peter Sholl on wanting our churches to be "distinctive".
• Mark Thompson on 'Have we got the right Bible?', examining the claim that it was the early church which sat above the Bible and determined the canonicity of particular books. In fact, it was a great summary of 2 doctrine lectures from a few weeks ago. Good teaser for Moore College.
• Justin Moffatt making enough generalisations to get his point across as he compared ministry in Sydney, New York, and London (note to self: talk to famous conference speakers in the hope you get invitations to travel internationally).
• Paul Harrington is on the pulse of subtle correctives as he examines what exactly is strategic planning, as he asks 'strategic about what?'
• A continuation in the series of classic christian books with a review of 'the universe next door'.

The Briefing is on the pulse in a way that blogs try to be but

A. Don't put enough thought into, and

B. No one bothers to read the post if the blog is long enough to achieve A.

The Briefing is on the pulse in a way books aren't because

A. They're too long

B. They take too long from concept to publication.

I'm reading a few less blogs, to engage my mind at a bit more depth.

Have I convinced you enough to renew your subscription?

As dry as...

It's a bit dusty winds and tumbleweeds around here lately. I've been putting my writing efforts into a few other projects of late and as such my allocated writing time is being sapped before I can get to the blog. Strangely enough, most of these other projects have come out of my writing on this blog leading to some invitations to write elsewhere. Thankfully holidays are just a week away and I have set myself a few deadlines which should ensure regular programming returns soon.

Part of this writing includes another book review for publication. The book I'm reviewing is a bit dry at times. While this is not necessarily a criticism, I am trying to be honest in my assessment and wanting to give an accurate portrayal of what the book is like. I was searching for a simile to get across the toughness of the book at points. As dry as... as dry as... as dry as...

At times this book is as dry as the Sahara. Too obvious.
At times this book is as dry as the pub with no beer. Not punchy enough.
At times this book is as dry as a Baptist dance. I wish I could, oh how I wish I could. But too controversial.

Any suggestions?