-
Is becoming a Pastor like crossing to the Dark Side?
It’s going to take a while for my identity to catch up with where I now find myself. This picture of me is of me sitting at my new desk at St. Albert Alliance Church, where I am the new Pastor for community life and missions. It has been a strange journey. You might have noticed that I haven’t been writing my reflections for a while. That has been largely due to the fact that I just have not felt I have had the words to communicate what has been happening in our lives. I haven’t had the words to make sense of the journey. For so long our commitment…
You May Also Like
Work as Love Made Visible: A Biblical View of Work
-
If we lived in a perfect world, politics wouldn’t be necessary, but we don’t, and it is…..
I’ve been fascinated by the drama of the U.S. Presidential Election as it unfolded over the past few months. Many commentators are this week indicating their expectation that the gridlock in Washington is about to get worse, with a few moderate politicians being replaced by hardliners on both sides of the aisle. Part of the problem is that both sides are living in a bubble that reinforces their worldview, as now both the Right Wing, and the Left have their own media services, churches and champions, who like a shout in an echo chamber, keep reinforcing their entrenched positions.
-
It is always right to strive to love in the midst of the messiness, even when it hurts.
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…
-
Real empowerment requires both a whip and a cross
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…
-
Don’t avoid right conflict, but step out of the fight to find real peace
I can see how easily I can get drawn into a fight. I am learning the difference between healthy conflict and being drawn into a fight. A fight is about me feeling justified, about me asserting my view above someone elses. My dad used to say that you never change someones opinion by exerting a stronger opinion and he’s right. Jesus didn’t back off conflict. He was happy to plait a whip, but he didn’t get into a fight.
You May Also Like
In moments of disaster we are reminded what a good person looks like.
It is important not to sentimentalise the baby born in Bethlehem, but to recognise him for who he is: the instigator of a revolution of love.
Too often we have preached a watered down, deformed kind of Christianity. Lets get back to the 6 core truths…
-
On your knees boy
It’s now the last full day of the Arrow residential. Heading home tomorrow which is always my favorite bit of any trip. We had a fascinating talk by one of Australia’s leading economists last night, Dr. Ian Harper. Einstein said that you don’t really understand something until you can explain it to a waitress on the back of a napkin. Dr Harper managed to explain the intricacies of the global economy in a way that was interesting and actually made sense. He also talked about what it was like being a Christian in that world. He talked about the challenges of heading the group that sets the minimum wage, knowing…
You May Also Like
The only kind of church that will actually work here is a Fair Dinkum one.
In the wake of #metoo we need to rediscover the implications of a controversial passage of the bible that points to a model of a healthy relationship between the sexes.
Our Appetites are leading us towards destruction.
-
Ready for action
As I mentioned in passing yesterday, there are a number of Christians who see the world soley as a battle between angels and demons. This approach to thinking about faith negates my responsibility for the choices I make, and reduces me to a puppet. I’ve been doing a series of short thoughts on Ephesians 6 and the Apostle Paul’s approach to spiritual warfare after realising just how practical it was. The third piece of armor is actually more a readiness for action: your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:15) There are a couple of things about this that interest me. The first…
-
Goodbye Steve
I woke up to the news that Steve Jobs is dead. I found myself surprisingly sad for someone who has made a habit of poking fun at apple whenever I could. Steve Jobs was a remarkable person. He seemed to be incredibly focussed and driven, and somehow brought out the best in the people he worked with. It has been fascinating watching the response in the media to his death. It is not quite the same as Lady Di but it’s stinger than Mother Theresa. Somehow Steve Jobs occupies a place in the collective consciousness unmatched by any other Technology CEO. I would be surprised if there was the same…
You May Also Like
Donald Trump spews cliches. The world is more complex than a cliche will ever capture.
Finding True Joy at Christmas: The Gift of “With”
There is a good chance that the majority of people who call themselves Christians don’t understand the significance of Jesus’s death and resurrection.
-
Why would you wrestle?
One step at a time I was left an anonymous gift last week. It is a hand-made bookmark with a photo of a beach and two trails of footprints with the words “His footsteps my pathway, one step at a time”. For me that little bookmark sums up faith. Faith is the wrestle to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, and his footsteps usually lead in a direction that at least part of me doesn’t want to go. I have been writing about the wrestle of faith and how often the main opponent in the wrestle is actually myself. The obvious question is, why would you wrestle at all?
-
Whats love got to do with it?
Love hurts I am continuing my series of posts about Paul’s charge to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12. After speech and life, Paul exhorts Timothy to set an example in love. Its been a while since I last wrote. Since then I have been to Canberra and South Australia. All the while I have had in the back of my head that I had to write my next blog about love. For me love is a bit of a daunting subject. It feels like so much has been written about love, and yet there is so much confusion. Something Mother Theresa said about love in her 1979 Nobel Prize acceptance…
-
Its life but not as we know it
Adjusting focus I’ve been chewing over Colossians 3. As I mentioned yesterday, the chapter became a bit of a theme for our conference and now seems to be something that God is trying to use to help me see some things. This morning I only got as far as verses 3 and 4 and they have been running around in my head all day as I try to come to terms with what they mean:
You May Also Like
Have you ever wondered why Christmas provokes such strong feelings for so many people?
When I saw the Toyota commercial I had to write something. This Christmas, lets not settle for the imitation.
Thank God for heroes like Rod Hoople who remind us all what the point of life really is.
-
Beyond the role
Cleaning Toilets I’ve been doing a bit more thinking about what I wrote a couple of days ago about suffering and character. I realised that feeling of pain that I spoke about is a common one and the tendency is to think that by changing my external circumstances I will change my internal world. I particularly have been thinking about the connection between roles and my feeling world. I remember a dark time early on in my ministry with Fusion when I felt as though I wasn’t being seen and wasn’t being very productive. I read the book “Reaching Out” by Henri Nouwen and was challenged to face the pain…
