I love this time of year.

I love it for two reasons, the first is that it’s not a normal time, it’s kind of a twilight zone time where no one is really working (apart from everyone in the hospitality industry) and there is the chance to reflect.

I also love it because there is the chance to catch up with family in a way you don’t really have the space for any other time of the year. We had a great picnic together at a park in Launceston (pictured) and it was just nice to be ‘us’.

I find that this week and next week are usually times when I do a lot of thinking. This week I look back over the past 365 days and read my journal from the year.

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Its Christmas evening and we are relaxing in front of National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. it’s a very deep movie…. (not!)

Today has been a special day.

Last night we stayed up and watched the carols, and then did the obligatory late shift getting organised for the morning.

There was the normal moment of disorientation for me as I heard excited voices from the lounge room at about 6:30 then I remembered what day it was.

The kids loved their presents, although I’m noticing that each year the gifts decrease in physical size and increase in cost….

A highlight for me was being with four generations of my family.

My grandmother is 94. She grew up without electricity and can remember the events depicted in “the Kings Speech” movie.

Ollie is 2, he loves bubbles and wants to be a musketeer.

The rest of us fit between those two (apart from Bridie who was born this year in the U.K. and couldn’t be with us).

As I looked around the table, and remembered family members who couldn’t be with us, it struck me just how important family is.

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I love this song, “Western desert sun” by Steve Grace.

I first saw Steve perform in 1986 in Perth, Western Australia as part of outreach for the America’s cup.

My dad did a tour of small country towns with him  and I helped to organise a concert for him in Broken Hill in 1991.

One of the things I love about him is the simplicity of his lyrics. There are artists who write songs that probably not even they understand, but Steve writes songs that are clear, simple and a bit confronting.

He is also unambiguously Australian. I love an old song of his about Ned Kelly.

This video brings together his Australianness with the simplicity of his lyrics and as Leeanne and I watched the video last night, I found myself moved to tears.

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Christmas Lunch at Mornington

I have an embarrassing confession to make for someone who writes a blog called “Faith Reflections”.

For much of my life, Santa has  seemed a lot more exciting than the Nativity.

I was thinking this morning about what kind of Christmas reflection I could write that would help focus the “reason for the season”.

Truth is, for many years  the “reason for the season”  seemed out of place and ordinary alongside the color, music, food and presents of Christmas.

I know a lot of people have got into the book about love languages.. I never did really, because it seemed a bit to simplistic.

I think the truth though,  is that presents do matter to me as a symbol of how I am seen and valued.

Christmas for me was about being seen, and the anticipation of Christmas day was fantastic, but the day itself was often a bit of a let down. Read the rest of this entry »

On Sunday night I was reminded of something.

We were in Hobart catching up with family after spending the week in Orford at my brother in law’s holiday house.

After catching up with the family on Saturday we decided to go with some of them to the Hobart Carols by Candelight, which was put on just down the hill from my brother-in-law’s house.

It quickly became apparent that lots of other people had the same idea, in fact a record crowd of about 16,000 people packed into the Sandy Bay beach park.

Marina Prior was the headline act and she was spectacular. There is something about her “realness” that seems to connect with audiences no matter where she goes.

I filmed her performances on my iphone, and I also captured a rock version of the Messiah that almost the whole audience got in to, as you can see from the video I put above.

As I watch the video of the performance and see my daughter and niece dancing it occurred to me that I was so busy filming the experience that I actually missed being part of it.

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As part of Arrow I have been making my way progressively through the New and Old Testaments simultaneously.

As I come toward the end of the New Testamant, I keep being struck at how the bible clearly exhorts us to a communal experience of faith, and how it attempts to prepare us for the fallibility of that community.

It is clear that we are called to live in a way that changes the world, but it is also clear that we can’t do this on our own. We are called to give grace to each other, and to lean into that grace administered by others in the face of our own humanity.

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I’ve been having a great holiday. We have played a lot of cricket, watched the whole series of Harry Potter movies, gone for a few walks and caught a couple of fish.

This time is very important for us as a family, Leeanne and I are standing at a crossroads, knowing that whichever path we take will affect not only us but our family and others as well.

It’s a strange place to be for me. Its the first time since 1992 that I really have felt this many options in front of me.

At a Fusion conference a number of years ago, the theme for the conference was Jeremiah 6:16:

This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.

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I am loving my holiday..

I think the way I am wired, getting space is very important in being able to make sense of the world I am living in.

One of the things that has most bewildered me has been seeing just how unaware people can be. Things that seem so obvious to me seem to not be seen by others.

I am discovering that there are a couple of reasons for that. The first is that we simply are different as human beings… Leeanne and I think so differently that it is not funny.. It was very important for me to discover that in the first years of marriage, and I continue to discover it.

The second reason we see things differently is less innocuous.. I am seeing how difficult it is for people (including me) to want to see the parts of their behavior that damage others.

I am discovering more and more that the person who works hard to look good in front of others, may fool some of the people some of the time, but is actually quite dangerous.

James 3:13 in the message says:

Whenever you’re trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others’ throats.

I have seen that truth starkly in the last couple of years, both in my own life and in the lives of others.

I actually believe that the only way to healthy relationships comes from three things.

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It was interesting to hear my wife’s response to my reflection yesterday. She said “it sounds like you aren’t going to do anything when anyone does something wrong”.

I can see how she would have picked that up from what I wrote, but that was not what I was intending to communicate.

We were watching a movie last night and the soundtrack featured a song by the band Sparklehorse called “Revenge”.

The song captures the dilemma of dealing with injustice. One lyric particularly stood out:

“somehow forgiveness lets evil make the laws”.

I can really identify with this lyric. Somehow “the Jesus way” can feel a bit like the way that leads to evil winning, and in the short term that is often the result. Jesus was crucified, the apostles were martyred and Martin Luther King was assassinated.

As I was saying yesterday, the natural response to what looks like injustice is to fix it by reaching for power.

The verse of the song captures beautifully the result of this approach.

Cause you can’t hide what you intend
it glows in the dark
once you’ve sought
the path of revenge
there’s no way to stop
and the more I try to hurt you
the more it hurts me

So if you can’t take revenge, can’t reach for power, what can you do?
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I am in what is becoming my favourite place. My sister and brother in law have a fantastic beach house in the town of Orford on the Tasmanian South East Coast. Because of their generosity we are able to use it a few times a year and it really is just a great place to relax.

We usually try to find a TV series to watch in the evenings, and the mornings are a chance to read, sleep in or play computer games (depending on which of these things you are in to). This time the kids have lined up all the Harry Potter movies to wade through.

As I read the first chapter of James in my quiet time this morning, I realised just how important it was for me to get away.

It has been a very challenging couple of years for me personally and for Fusion, and I have learned a great deal about myself through the time. I have also learned a great deal from the bible as the more difficult life got, the more relevant the bible seemed to be.

I have to confess though that I think I had been getting to the end of my rope.
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Today is my 40th birthday.

It feels strange to be writing those words. I remember quite clearly my dad’s 40th birthday and how old he seemed!

I included a photo of me from primary school with todays reflection. The reason I did that is that for the first half of my life I have been on a journey to accept myself.

I remember very clearly the moment when I realised how much I didn’t like myself. I was in Hobart about three months after finishing Fusion’s Certificate IV course and I came across an old photo of myself, just a little bit older than this one.

As I looked at the photo I remember feeling intense embarrassment and kind of a sick feeling in my stomach. I was embarrassed about the snowy haired energetic child that stared back at me.

I had been reading Henri Nouwen’s “reaching out”, and discovering just how much I didn’t like my own company. Read the rest of this entry »

We used to think of Missionaries as the spiritual people who went to Africa.  We may not have realised it at the time, but that was a cop out.

We are all missionaries in our own particular mission fields. Read the rest of this entry »

Empowerment  is giving power away, but in a way that results in freedom.

Humanity was created in the image of God, and the result of that is that each and every one of us has a spirit.

In the first couple of chapters of Genesis we see humanity before the fall. We see people who were created to be in relationship (Genesis 2:18), to be creative (Genesis 2:19), to be responsible (Gen 1:28) and to live in God’s truth (Gen 2:17,25).

These drives for relationship, creativity, responsibility and truth set humanity apart from the animals and are all spiritual.

The human spirit is a sub-theme throughout the bible, and represents a different way of “knowing”.

The young Elihu says in Job 32:8

“But it is the spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.”

The author of Ecclesiastes indicates in Chapter three verse 11,  that somehow Eternity is actually a part of us, yet it is beyond our comprehension,

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yetno one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

The book of Romans indicates in Chapter eight verse sixteen that the Holy Spirit communicates through our spirit,

“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”

In Galatians Paul makes it clear that there are two options all Christians have, to live  in step with the Holy Spirit, or to live in step with the flesh.

Many people see faith as a set of restrictions. In Galatians, Paul turns that on its head and urges his audience that

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).

You need only look to your own life to know that certain kinds of freedom actually produce damage. As I indicated in the previous reflection, we all have thorns in the flesh which might reduce pain or induce pleasure for the short term, but ultimately damage.

Paul says in Galatians 5:13, “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather serve one another in love.”

Jesus promised freedom, but a freedom that came from living life His way.

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-33)

Empowerment in the Kingdom of God, means encouraging one another to be truly free, to be fully human in the Genesis sense.

There are two ways to empower: the cross and the whip, and generally we want to use the one while we ought to be using the other.

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An apparent contradiction exists between the clear call to fellowship in the bible and the role of a leader.

It is normal that most change begins with one person having a realization, picturing a different future and then telling people about it.

The truth is that leadership is a lonely job. A.W. Tozer said

“Most of the world’s greatest souls have been lonely”.

Author of Spiritual Leadership, J.O. Sanders says,

“We naturally enjoy and need the company of others, and want to share with others the heavy burden of responsibility and care. It is sometimes heartbreaking to make decisions of far-reaching importance that affect the lives of beloved fellow workers – and to make them alone”.

He goes on to say

“the leader must be a person who, while welcoming the friendship and support of all who offer it, has sufficient inner resources to stand alone – even in the face of stiff opposition to have “no one but God”.

There will be many times where a leader needs to stand and be counted, perhaps even against the every person they are leading.

One of my favorite parts of the movie Invictus is an argument that Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman) has with his assistant about the renaming of the Springboks rugby team.

Assistant: ‘I strongly advise doing this, especially on your own. It gives the impression of  autocratic leadership. You risk alienating your cabinet and your party.

Mandela :  Your advice is duly noted

Assistant: Madiba the people want this. They hate the Springboks. They dont want to be  represented by a team they cheered against all their lives.

Mandela: Yes I know but in this instance the people are wrong and as their elected leader  it is my job to show them that.

Assistant: You are risking your political capital. You are risking your future as our leader.

Mandela:   The day I am afraid to do that is the day I am no longer fit to lead.

These are the moments that define a leader, but this standing on your own against the tide, which is so essential at times, cannot be the pattern all the time. A leader needs fellowship just as much, and probably more, than anyone else.

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Poatina morning tea devotion given yesterday

Galatians 5 and 6 – last of a series of devotions. Also end of my current role in Fusion on Friday, taking time out to work out next steps with Leeanne.

I have discovered podcasts by NT Wright– one of the most respected New Testament theologians in the world. One of the reasons he is respected – he knows what he’s talking about (that helps) and he makes it understandable and applicable.

Understanding the world – in the Jewish approach to faith were three basic approaches and Jesus brought a fourth.
1. The quietists – deep relationship with God – in the caves on their own – the Kumran and the Heseins
2. The Zealots – all about power and overthrow and revolution.
3. The Herodians – collaborated with the world, the Roman system. They did the world better than the world – they used the world to get ahead.
It doesn’t take too long to see the same three heresies today.

There are plenty of people who are focused on their relationship with Jesus but not looking out and applying it in their lives. There are plenty fighting to get the right people in power. (there are many Christians who don’t see the difference between being a Christian and being American – we see it emerging here in Aus.) where politics and power gets mixed up.

There are Christians who use the worlds systems – sometimes better than the world does! One church with a green room for pastors before they head up to the stage – with its own chef who cooks whatever the preacher wants. At the end of the day 80% of the food prepared is discarded (all really top quality organic stuff) The assumption is that God wants you to have the best.

NT Wright says Jesus comes and brings a radical 4th approach that turns it all upside down.

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