Shooting through

Dear readers, I am now the proud owner of a plane ticket to Santiago! I'm heading out from Hobart on the 23rd February next year. I thank God for everyone's interest, concern, prayers and generosity. I feel I am heading off with a mass of support and very much in partnership with a whole bunch of people, which is a huge blessing and help.

Please pray that God will count me worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of mine and every act prompted by my faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in me . . . And that I will make the most of my final weeks in Tassie, my commissioning service will be a blessing to my church family and any of my non-Christian friends who decide to attend, and finally that I will have a good attitude during my first few weeks in Chile.

Better than busy

People keep asking, "I guess this is a busy time of year for you?" (ie because I work for a church). My response was less than inspired - "Not really" I'd say (ever the great conversationalist). But not any more! Now what I say is, "It's not actually particularly busy, but it is an important time for me".

Self esteem

As we spoke about worldviews at house-church on Sunday, it became increasingly obvious that Australians tend to think that, a) people are fundamentally good and can make the world a better place [ie people are responsible for good], and b) sometimes people stuff-up, perhaps as the result of a troubled upbringing, being under a lot of stress or a personality disorder, but whatever the root cause, that's not who they are [ie people are not responsible for bad].

This sort of thinking makes life a nicer place because you always have reason to feel good about yourself and never to feel bad. That's pleasant and endurable. But it's also dishonouring and dehumanising, as it make us out to be less capable and less mature than we are.

We are not victims tossed around by our circumstances; we are adults who actively make the choices we want to make. When we do wrong, it's not because we suddenly forget ourselves and lose our personhood; we make our choices out of who we are. They are real choices. I'm not saying that our circumstances have zero effect - their effect is significant, yet that does not change the fact that we could always chose differently. We are making that decision, not our circumstances. (Obviously I'm not thinking of something terrible like a hostage situation here, which is terrible in large part because it does strip away all our dignity and volition.)

Taking responsibility for our actions, whether good or bad, hands us back our human dignity because it says that we have the capacity and power to think and act. Indeed we are so noble that we even have the capacity to do this in the face of awful circumstances.

Of course, with responsibility comes the burden of failure. But hope is found in Jesus, who didn't patronise us but took our wrongs so seriously he chose to die in our place, and who now holds out forgiveness to a people so full of dignity and potential, yet so shot through with perversity and self-centredness.

Reach for the stars. No, cancel that.

Watching the wonderful So You Think You Can Dance on Friday night the American narrative was blindingly clear: We celebrate battling through adversity to achieve your dreams. Then, at the Saturday night showing of Sydney's Carols by Candlelight, the Australian version came through loud and clear: We celebrate battling through adversity with your loved ones by your side. No dream-realisation for us: we've too much gritty realism and humility/tall poppy syndrome.

I wonder what other nations esteem?

Better than Aragorn

Here in Australia, we know what it is to be 'saved' or 'rescued' - we have secular narratives that celebrate these events (the Bondi lifesavers, nurses and doctors, giving blood, Search and Rescue). But I don't think we're familiar with the concept of following a 'lord' or 'king'. I can't think of anything that depicts such a relationship - well aside from Lord of the Rings. Because of this, I have found it difficult to feel emotional resonance with Jesus as my King. It leaves me, not so much cold, as unaffected. It doesn't mean anything to me.

Yet when I think about it, I do consider him the one authority over my life. I attempt to do as he says in everything and bring him only honour by my actions. I do entrust my very life to him and feel confident that he is good, just, tender-hearted and powerful. I think of him as I would a perfect king.

Maybe this means that when we speak of Jesus' kingship, we need to spend a little time talking about what that relationship looks like or about the sort of Person and Leader he is. If we stop at the word alone, we may leave people feeling... nothing.

Sprachgefuhl

Speaking of the Hebrew language, here's a fascinating article about how writers rose up out of the mass of "functionally illiterate" Jewish boys at the outset of the modern Israeli state.

Eire and Yisra'el

The land of Ireland and the language of Hebrew warm my heart. I don't know why, out of the many things in this world, it should be these two, but it is. I lived in Ireland for nine months and my heart broke a little to say goodbye. I hated the winter, my relationship with my fiancé was horrible, and I never really connected with the Irish people, but still it stole my heart. It was the language as much as anything - so whimsical, formal and archaic, like stepping into a fairytale.

And again, I hated learning Hebrew and was rather hopeless at it, but fell in love with its sweet plainness and the poetry of its repeated forms. I only have to see its letters to feel a rush of affection. It's an achingly sweet, minimalist language, one that conveys great profundity with the slightest twist of a word.

It's the words isn't it.

Introverted round-up

Those who follow this blog will know that I've been struggling with introversion - and I mean, while I definitely am introverted (case in point: my two favourite days of the week are devoid of people), I'm not even that extreme. So I hate to think how hard some people find it to navigate the world. Here are three things that have been a massive help:

1. Crafting my week. For me this means two days of downtime and recuperation - Saturday and Monday. Saturday is my rest day, when I retreat from the world and especially from my responsibilities. This is particularly important given how people-intense and weighty my ministry job is. Saturday is a day for rest, for creativity, for living simply and in the moment. Then comes Sunday with its many people. Monday is my thinking and writing day. I sit in my bedroom or lounge room all day long and don't talk to anyone. I think through complex things, I give expression to my thoughts, and sometimes I read articles or books. I'd go crazy if I didn't have these two days in my week. I do realise that not everyone is free to structure their week as they please - it's one of the blessings of doing fulltime ministy, but maybe you could still tweek it a little.
2. Cutting myself slack afterhours. In the past I have felt guilty and complicated when I passed on an evening or weekend social event and when I never initiated such. But then I realised that I'm working with people all the time in my job, giving myself to them and (hopefully) being a blessing to them. This counts. And if I don't have the emotional energy left to spend lots of social time with acquaintances and even with friends, that's okay.
3. Enjoy people. My recent ephiphany really has worked!

Before Christmas was a cultural event

Last night my Dad was singing in the massed Carols by the Bay Choir so me and Mum went along to watch. I felt like I was in Sydney, it was such a glitsy, polished affair. I also felt like I was in America, with all those modern carols about Santa, wint'ry streets and huddling by the fire with family and friends.

Christmas as a cultural event is so ingrained in me that I find it difficult to appreciate as a Christian - its predetermined expression somehow strips it of authenticity. But last night was different. I sang through the Christmas story in The First Noel surrounded by unbelievers ("The first noel, the angels did say, was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay . . . noel, noel, noel, noel, born is the King of Israel! They looked up and saw a star shining in the east beyond them far . . .  noel, noel, noel, noel, born is the King of Israel! . . . Then entered in those wise men three full reverently upon their knee, and offered there in his presence their gold and myrrh and frankincense" etc), and I thought, I actually believe these words, this is exactly what I think happened in that place all those years ago. I don't just love it as a heartwarming tradition; I love it because that sweet, prosaic, magnificent story changed everything. This wasn't a simple, beneficent act of God; it was God himself getting dirty on this planet, born onto a muddy floor amidst all the blood and gunk. This story is as gritty and confounding as it is beautiful.

Besties

People come to church expecting to make friends. But you can't plan for friendship. And it's not what the church promises to be. The Bible speaks of church as a holy temple, a purified bride, a flock of sheep, a family of adopted children . . . but never a group of friends. It's been said that Christians are likely to leave new churches within six months if they haven't made seven friends.1 We should work hard to provide environments conducive to making friends, but perhaps we also need to alter people's expectations. Our society offers friendships; we offer family. And the thing about family is that, it's family. You don't have to wait to see if you connect with seven people; you're one of us from the very beginning, bound together by Jesus' blood. We need to work hard at conveying this to people and living as if it is so.


1 E Stetzer, Planting Missional Churches, 290.

21st century conservatism

I often find myself feeling anxious before I hang out with my non-Christian friends. Even if they are old and dear friends, we have opposite views and it's like I'm stepping into their territory, a place where I am expected to play by predetermined rules. The eyes of my society bear down on me, watching to see I keep to the permissible. In a conversation about tragedy, someone concludes, "I just try to do my best, to live the best life I can". They have done well; that is what should be said. To point to a better life beyond this one or a God of compassion and justice would be to go heedlessly against the rules. So I smile politely, and the conversation shifts.

It's not always this way. The trick is to remember that every place is his. He reigns over every inglorious situation and I am always his child. My society writes its expectations in ignorance and blindness. But my allegiance is to my King, to his rules, rules of truth and goodness, of right and wrong. His rules trump my society's for they are anchored in truth and they ever will be.

Equilibrium

We ask God to help us live a balanced life, but is that what he wants for us? When we speak of balance we have in mind such things as church-work-chores-family-errands-friends-fun. But such a list betrays a twofold problem - they all look like tasks and they all seem to be of equal importance.

Here's my take on the Bible's better vision:

The first thing this better picture does is draw the eye away from your own life (balanced or otherwise) and upward to God. [Well, maybe not this specific 'better picture' ;)] The key is to live for God, whatever the details of your life. It also speaks of identity before task. As a Christian, you (and your husband or wife) are part of the church. That's who you are as you go about life in the world.

First of all, this means that the question to ask is not 'Is my life balanced?', but rather 'Is my life glorifying to God?'. Secondly, a married person will always think of themselves as a married person, and, because of this identity, they will care for their husband and wife, spend time with them and help them out with stuff. In the same way, as a Christian you should always think of yourself as part of the church, and, because of this, you should care for your brothers and sisters, spend time with them and help them out. And for those who are married, you will find your marriage strengthened as together you do this work of service.

Homebrand //2

A few posts back I began exploring the ethics of homebrand. A friend very kindly directed me to some more articles on the topic (see here, here, and here), which helped me to develop my thinking a little further. But not too much. I have three reflections:

1. I do care if a product that I love is no longer stocked (as in John Birmingham's La Gina tomato problem). It's important for me to be careful with my money (I don't have much of it and I want to continue being able to not only look after and spoil myself but also give a little away), but if a product is awesome I will happily pay more (take Carmen's muesli bars as an example). If there are enough of us (middle class) people around to purchase great muesli bars, then my guess is that Carmen's will stay, even though there is a homebrand alternative. (Is my thinking right here?) And if I'm only one of a handful who appreciate this product and it disappears, then I'll suck it up.
2. But now I'm sounding callous, like I don't care if companies shut down and people's livelihood and life's work goes down the drain. I do care - it's a horrible reality. But I get so overwhelmed by the complexity of systems like food production that I need to assess coldly so I can actually reach an ethical decision. And I believe that the people who supply the homebrand label are equally deserving of a wage.
3. I've realised one major problem though - when the massive supermarket chains subsidise products so much that the consumer ends up paying below cost. This makes it impossible for alternative brands to be both competitive and break even. I've heard that the $2 two-litre milk falls into this category, so I'm going to stop buying it.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

How porn has hijacked our sexuality

                              *****warning: discussion of explicit material below*****













Pornland: How Porn has Hijacked our Sexuality is a disturbing and important read - and not for everyone. I'm pretty skilled at skim-reading and glancing over pages but I still accidentally read stuff I wish I hadn't. I'll try to make this post less explicit than the book but, unfortunately, it will still be necessary to mention some ugly stuff and to use swear words. You don't have to read it of course.

The topic of porn is important and complex enough that I'm going to quote quite a lot of what Dines has to say. She begins the book by describing what she found after googling "porn". It accorded with a study that found "if we combine both physical and verbal aggression, our findings indicate that nearly 90% of scenes contained at least one aggressive act, with an average of nearly 12 acts of aggression per scene".1 Dines concludes that porn teaches that women are "always ready for sex and are enthusiastic to do whatever men want, irrespective of how painful, humiliating, or harmful the act is,"2 and men are "soulless, unfeeling, amoral life-support systems for erect penises who are entitled to use women in any way they want."3 She says:

In a world populated by women who are robotic 'sluts' and men who are robotic studs, the sex is going to be predictably devoid of any intimacy. Porn sex is not about making love, as the feelings and emotions we normally associate with such an act - connection, empathy, tenderness, caring, affection - are replaced by those more often connected with hate - fear, disgust, anger, loathing, and contempt.4 

For this to be possible, "[i]t is especially important for the pornographers to shred the humanity of the women in the images, as many porn users have sustained and intimate relationships with women in the real world."5 They do this by having the male performers call the women abusive names, thereby reducing them to sex objects. And women are portrayed as seeking out sex "because [they] love to be sexually used," so lessening any guilt the viewer may feel.6 Dines reaches a disturbing conclusion: "This framing of sexist ideology as sexy and hot gives porn a pass to deliver messages about women that in any other form would be seen as completely unacceptable . . . . By wrapping the violence in a sexual cloak, porn renders it invisible, and those of us who protest the violence are consequently defined as anti-sex, not anti-violence."7


It gets still more horrible:

At first these images may well be exciting, but the more seasoned user will soon find that porn, because of its formulaic nature, becomes predictable . . . . Missing from porn is anything that looks or feels remotely like intimacy and connection, the two ingredients that make sex interesting and exciting in the real world. Drained of these, porn becomes monotonous and predictable to the point that users need to eventually seek out more extreme acts as a way to keep them interested and stimulated.8

Yet however ugly porn sex is, it is, in some sense, 'successful':

it offers men a no-strings-attached, intense, disconnected sexual experience, where men always get to have as much sex as they want in ways that shore up their masculinity. The sex acts are always successful, ending in supposed orgasm for both, and he is protected from rejection or ridicule since in porn, women never say no to men's sexual demands, nor do they question their penis size or technique. In this world, men dispense with romantic dinnners, vanilla sex, and postcoital affection and get down to the business of fucking.9 

However when men who use porn enter the real world they:

feel like sexual losers . . . . They worry that they're not good-looking enough, smooth enough, or masculine enough to score, and since the porn view of the world suggests that women are constantly available, these men are bewildered by rejection. They often express deep shame about their inability to hook up, and this shame morphs into anger at their female peers who, unlike porn women, have the word 'no' in their vocabulary . . . . Hooking up, however, brings its own set of disappointments since the mind-blowing porn sex they were anticipating looks nothing like the sex they are actually having . . . . With these feelings of inadequacy also come feelings of anger towards the hookup, as she is not as willing as Pornland women to have porn-like sex . . . . What troubles many of these men most is that they need to pull up the porn images in their head in order to have an orgasm with their partner.10 

The attitudes towards women promoted by porn will help push some men to rape, "but many more will beg, nag, and cajole their partners into sex or certain sex acts . . . Some will use women and disregard them when done, some will be critical of their partner's looks and performance, and many will see women as one-dimensional sex objects who are less deserving of respect and dignity than men, both in and out of the bedroom."11

Porn is damaging for women for more reasons than those canvassed above. The porn world means that the "Stepford Wife image, which drove previous generations of women crazy with its insistence on sparkling floors and perfectly orchestrated meals, has all but disappeared, and in its place we now have the Stepford Slut: a hypersexualised, young, thin, toned, hairless, and, in many cases, surgically enhanced woman with a come-hither look on her face."12 Dines continues:

what is different about today is not only the hypersexualisation of mass-produced images but also the degree to which such images have overwhelmed and crowded out any alternative images of being female. Today's tidal wave of soft-core porn images has normalized the porn star look in everyday culture to such a degree that anything less looks dowdy, prim, and downright boring. Today, a girl or young woman looking for an alternative to the Britney, Paris, Lindsay look will soon come to the grim realization that the only alternative to looking fuckable is to be invisible.13 

This normalisation of porn culture is bolstered by women's magazines which promote - and teach - kinky sex, as well as instructing women not to make too many demands of their men.14 In all:

the sheer ubiquity of the hypersexualised images . . . gives them power since they normalize and publicize a coherent story about women, femininity, and sexuality. Because these messages are everywhere, they take on an aura of such familiarity that we believe them to be our very own personal and individual ways of thinking. They have the power to seep into the core part of our identities to such a degree that we think that we are freely choosing to look and act a certain way because it makes us feel confident, desirable, and happy.15

As it does for men, this capitulation to the porn world brings with it a degree of success - it enables women to be:

sexually wanted by a man: the way he holds you in his gaze, the way he finds everything you say worthy of attention, the way you suddenly become the most compelling person in the world . . . . it feels like real power; but it is ephemeral because it is being given to women by men who increasingly, thanks to the porn culture, see women as interchangeable hookup partners. To feel that sense of power, women need to keep sexing themselves up so they can become visible to the next man who is going to, for a short time, hold her in his lustful gaze.16 

Sadly though, hookup sex isn't what women really want - they want a relationship, and experience regret, low self-esteem and depression when this doesn't work out, as well as the risk of being labelled a 'slut'.17 Yet Dines argues that women have come to believe they deserve nothing more.18

In her conclusion Dines acknowledges that the gargantuan porn industry will be difficult to stop, but commends individuals who take a stand in their own lives. She has started a pressure group which produces resources designed to raise people's consciousness. She advocates a positive vision of "a sexuality that is based on equality, dignity, and respect."19 Dines is not a Christian and nowhere does she suggest that marriage is the best place for this, but it's certainly what comes to my mind.


1 G Dines, Pornland: How Porn has Hijacked our Sexuality (Boston: Beacon Press, 2010), xxii.
2 Ibid, xxiii.
3 Ibid, xxiv.
4 Ibid, xxiv.
5 Ibid, 63.
6 Ibid, 64.
7 Ibid, 87-88.
8 Ibid, 68.
9 Ibid, 63.
10 Ibid, 89-90.
11 Ibid, 97-98.
12 Ibid, 102.
13 Ibid, 104-05.
14 Ibid, 107-09.
15 Ibid, 108.
16 Ibid, 112-13.
17 Ibid, 114-15.
18 Ibid, 117.
19 Ibid, 164.

Doubt and be saved

It's okay to doubt you're saved. It's not nice and it doesn't have to be that way, but doubting won't lose you your salvation. You are saved because of Jesus, not through strength of character or even strength of faith. You could go through each day of your life doubting your salvation and still be welcomed into heaven at your death. In fact, it's rather people who take their faith for granted who may have cause for concern. We need to examine ourselves and make sure that we do know Jesus, that we are not one of those to whom he will say "I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!" (Mat 7:23). It is to these people that the terrible warnings of Scripture are written (eg Heb 6:4-8; 10:26-31) - to his own Jesus says, "I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day" and "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (John 6:39; Heb 13:5; see also 6:17-19; 9:15).

Knowing this means that you can cut yourself some slack when you doubt. Emotions can be unkind and unruly things and doubt may come upon you unbidden. Or it may be Satan's doing. Either way, you must simply stand firm, continuing to believe the Gospel of salvation (John 6:40). Or, if your doubt comes from a small view of God, a lack of understanding that he will hold onto you even when you cannot hold onto him, all you need to do is repent and get to know him better.

Books

My old SMBC lecturers (old as in they were my lecturers in times past) have been busy scribbling away. They are a very gifted, intelligent, thoughtful and lucid bunch and I would like to commend their works to you.

Bruce Dipple has written a deceptively simple book about how local churches can do a great job of cross-cultural mission. Be sure to read it carefully as it's dotted with considered, insightful gems. I don't agree with all the structures he advocates, but that's okay.

Stuart Coulton has written a novel-length church history and, as ever, communicates in a clear, engaging and easy-to-understand manner, while everywhere including nuance and carefully won conclusion.

And while I haven't dipped into it yet, if Alan Thompson's commentary on Acts is anything like his lectures, it will be eminently intelligent and faithful to the text, with warm and lucid expression.

Reality check

In proper yoga the physical is coupled with the spiritual; physical movement being a way of engaging with the divine. Some say that Christians who do yoga inadvertently subscribe to this false spirituality. The problem with this line of argument is that yoga has got it wrong. There is no 'divinity' with which you connect as you do physical movement, just as in Paul's day there were no "so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth . . . there is but one God, the Father" (1 Cor 8:5-6). This reality means that we are perfectly free to do yoga exercises, giving glory to the God who is there.

So the problem with doing something like yoga isn't that we're getting caught up in some wrong spiritual action - it's that we might be seen to be. We might be a stumbling block to Christians who haven't thought this stuff through (1 Cor 8:7-13) and we might bring the Gospel into disrepute as non-Christians interpret our behaviour as supportive of eastern religion. But even this isn't always a bad thing - it may create an opportunity to explain that actually we think there is only one God who created all things good (1 Tim 4:4).

Making church say what you want it to say

My friend (and workmate) Nick is starting up a church in the working class suburb of Glenorchy. He's starting to think through what a church service should look like and asked for my thoughts.

There are things that work for anyone, irrespective of social class. Preaching that is biblically faithful, sincere and passionate. Leaders of authenticity, integrity and compassion. Then there's the other stuff. I think that everyone needs to see a) the Sunday service playing out in the rest of the week, b) the festive, life-well-lived side of Christianity, and c) the caring Christian community.

Middle class people need to be shown the relevance of the Christian message for everyday life (think a pointed, concrete conclusion to a sermon). We need to see that you can be a Christian and still embrace creativity and aesthetic (think creative branding and experimental service structure). We love things like meeting together each week, sharing a meal, playing barefoot bowls, going to someone's shack.

Working class people don't need to be shown the relevance of the Christian message - they need to see ordinary people talking about their actual life (think a public time of sharing what God has been doing in the past week). They need to see that you can be a Christian and still have fun (think sport, video games, fairground attractions, food - but don't fuss over aesthetics and don't mess with the traditional church service). They love things like have a barbie and getting stuck into a project or helping out someone in need.

Am I right? I'm very much middle class, so the working class stuff is just based on observation. Also, I think my middle class comments are more for the 'younger generation'.

Seventy percent

I'm delighted to say that, as of last week, I've reached 70% of the ongoing financial support that I need. When I get to 80% I can book my plane ticket! I'm anticipating hitting that mark in the next fortnight or so and heading off at the start of February. This will give me time to do a good job of finishing up my work for Crossroads and to have a decent holiday/prep time.

I'm very aware that it is because of people's generosity that it is all coming together for me. My supporters are absolutely serving and caring for me, yet at the same time they are serving God as they fulfill the role that he has for them. Indeed, people's generosity is "a sacrificial offering to their God as part of their obedient worship. Their giving is to be just as thoughtful as when the Israelite of the Old Testament went and chose the lamb without blemish from his flock. It is intentional. It costs. But it is an act of spiritual worship that pleases God because it is in tune with his desire that Christ be known" (see Philippians 4:14-19). How lovely.



Quote taken from B Dipple, Becoming Global: Integrating Global Mission and your Local Church: a Practical Approach (Sydney: Sydney Missionary & Bible College, 2011), 73-74.

Homebrand

I always buy homebrand if the quality's going to be okay (so no asparagus or tuna). I've gathered that there are reasons not to, but preferred to wallow in my ignorance than take the confused path to knowledge. Happily The Weekend Australian explained it to me (they've gone digital, so no reading this article unless you pay).

The problem with homebrand is that anyone could be behind it. This means that the supermarkets can switch suppliers at whim (does it really? don't they have contracts or something?), which isn't very nice. It also means that it has the potential to reduce competition over time, as the supermarkets reduce the number of other brands - which means that the price of homebrand products could actually rise over time. While there may be truth to this, it does seem a little silly to buy a more expensive product in the hope of keeping prices down longterm. Then there's the argument about how homebrand undermines 'buying Australian', but I've always been just as much a fan of supporting producers overseas as I am of supporting locals - though then you get into the craziness of transporting food hundreds of miles when it could be locally produced or you could just do without until something's in season . . . yet I still care about supporting those overseas guys.

So I think I'll keep buying homebrand for now, unless I find out that it really does mean that they stuff round their suppliers.

He has shown kindness

On a couple of occasions the book of Acts sees Paul presenting the Gospel message to Gentiles who had no knowledge of either Jewish religion or Jesus himself. Early on in both addresses he spoke of the Creator God:

We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. In the past he let all nations go their own way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy." (Acts 14:15-17)

And later in Athens:

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us." (Acts 17:24-27)

We find it harder to begin our appeals like this today. Even if we don't think that science has in any way dethroned God, then my guess is that we're not very good at arguing for this and we don't want to spend our time there. But maybe folks are more on our page than we imagine - afterall, a fair whack of people think that there is (or could be) "something beyond this life that makes sense of it all" (from here), and the Bible tells us that at some point God's eternal power and divine nature are "clearly seen, being understood from what has been made" (Romans 1:20).

So maybe we should kick off as Paul does. Hobart people should certainly be able to identify with the provision of food and joy.

Christian language

I can't seem to find it but I'm pretty sure I wrote something about my desire to speak plainly in front of my non-Christian friends. Praise God I've more or less got there. Now I want to have the courage to use Christian language. I want to be free to use words like "forgiveness", "sin", "reconciliation", "resurrection" and "grace", instead of always avoiding them or translating them into ordinary language.

I find encouragement from the apostles who adapted the content of their preaching to their Gentile audiences, but didn't necessary adapt their language. So for example, Peter spoke simply about "the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all" and about how Jesus "is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead . . . . everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name" (Acts 10:36, 42-43).

 I want to be someone who in conversation will sometimes uses phrases like, "the living God", "message of light", and even perhaps, "judge the world with justice" (Acts 14:15; 26:23; 17:31). I wouldn't want it to be very often, but I would like it to be there.

Happy endings in Australia //2

My quest has its own happy ending: The Tree.

When women and SMART goals don't mix

The Crossroads staff is pumped to see our church grow and mature. We're passionate about seeing people take the 'next step'. We don't mind how soon it happens or how rapidly they progress - we'll leave that with God, as any change is his doing - but we want to do all we can to facilitate their growth. Trouble is, this sort of thinking lends itself to a task-oriented approach that doesn't quite match with what I'm doing...

With most of the women I meet, identifying concrete goals and working towards them hasn't seemed the way to go. Instead I've ended up helping them with stuff as it crops up (eg lack of assurance, peer pressure at work), helping them mature in 'incidental' godliness, rather than furthering them along a pre-planned path.

One of my fellow staffworkers has helped my thinking here. While acknowledging that women are less task-oriented than men, he identified that a more planned approach can be helpful for:

• Habitual/learned 'shortcomings' ("not necessarily sins, though! . . . . e.g. a woman who complains, 'I've gotta get more organised!!'").
• Competence ("I find it helpful to think of growth in terms of the MTS categories of ministry suitability [Character, Competence, Conviction]. Regular Bible study will move people forward in character and conviction; I have no doubt about it. But it won't necessarily help them progress in competence.")
• Specific areas of character and conviction ("e.g. 'I've always wanted to understand what the phrase in Christ is on about'--it's possible to set some goals and help them move forward there.")
• And finally, "I wonder if the 'incidental' approach nevertheless benefits from a dose of 'deliberateness' . . . For example, as we discover someone's lack of assurance, rather than *simply* reading John 6, we could set the 'goal' of writing out a prayer based on v37 for them to come back to when they're feeling 'lost'."

This is all a most helpful addition to my more, ahem, organic approach. But I do think that with women there will be times when structure has to be temporarily abandoned. This is because even if they might be interested in progressing in some planned way, they (we!) can find it almost impossible to start on this when there are other issues troubling them. Women seem to get more rocked by/caught up in stuff than men (?) and really do need to work through an issue before they can return to what was planned. [Of course this can become unhealthy and get way out of hand, but I'm more thinking of the average, mature woman here.]

So in these times you have to cut women quite a bit of slack, ditch your plans and address what needs addressing now - while keeping in mind where you are ultimately wanting to go with them (and how this thing you're dealing with right now might fit into that). Of course this calls for a good amount of flexibility and discernment.

Women and men - a bit different. Who'd 've thought!


H/T Bernard

More to say

I want to more often take conversations to the next step. In talking about my car accident this morning, my physio said "It makes you realise how precious life is", and I enthusiastically agreed. I would like to have said "Yeah and, as a Christian, it really brought home that God is watching over me". I would like to do this.

Not cutting slack; cutting slack

We should want to show people respect and compassion, but sometimes you can't do both. We want to treat a fellow adult with dignity and let them make their choices and exercise their God-given responsibilities without stepping in to read their minds or cushion things for them, even as we see them making bad choices. We don't shelter them from the consequences of their actions as we might shelter a child. It is dignifying to them to have to experience what comes of what was done, and may also be more helpful long-term. Justice and discipline borne of God are beautiful - because they show that our choices matter, that the people making them matter.

Yet we want to treat a fellow human with compassion, to cut them slack and show mercy towards them in their weakness, remembering that we have many of our own. We want to step in and ease the way for them, take the burden of failure away, shower them with generous, merciful care, and help them in their present need. This mirrors the beauty of God's mercy towards us hateful, rebellious sinners.

Sometimes it's one and sometimes it's the other, and sometimes you can see your way clear to a bit of both. It takes a wisdom and courage that only God can give, so it's just lucky that he does :).

TV as blessing

It was my habit to watch TV most evenings. I was tired - I wanted to sit down and not think. I wanted to find out what was happening in the lives of my screen-buddies. But it stopped me getting things done, made me tired the next day and pushed out any chance for creativity. Hence the new regime...

If I feel tired at the end of the day, I'm to have a nap, get up and embrace the evening.
I can watch TV, but only over dinner or for a favourite show.
I can watch boxsets, but the characters' lives must not take over my own.
My evenings can be humble and mundane - they can be for errands and housework - but they must be owned and lived.

Persistent in effort; stubbornly tenacious

After a week of gorgeously sunny days, it's raining. I do hope that doesn't colour this post. Well as I said earlier, I've just returned from a week going around Presbyterian churches in the north of the state. I loved the people's warm welcome but, once again, found myself squirming when I was introduced in glowing terms or commended for my selflessness. As the week went on, I realised that I just don't see myself in these terms. I am very aware of my sins and deficiencies.* That in turn got me thinking about what effect my more sober view might have on my ministry.

I know that I don't work stupidly hard at my ministry - I'm disciplined in taking rest and I delight in it. And I know that I don't work to earn God's approval or to somehow make it up to him - I rely utterly on Christ for that. Yet I do work doggedly. I think I do so because I feel unworthy and 'scrappy'. What else could someone like me do when I have been given so much? So I work, not exactly out of gratitude and not out of cold duty either, but out of loyalty and because it is the only fitting response.

Loyalty is a good starting point, but I am forgetting that I wasn't redeemed by some high-minded stranger, but by the big-hearted, compassionate, extravagant Almighty God. The God who rejoiced to see my redemption. I'm forgetting how free I am, how completely released from the burden of guilt and striving. I'm forgetting that while I should certainly throw myself into serving him, I'm to do so with glad exuberance.

I think my job has been confusing me. I've signed up to a working week full of speaking and thinking about God. That's my role and that's what people pay me for. But I'm forgetting that I'm not under complusion to do this work. "Tend the flock of God that is in your charge, not under constraint but willingly, not for shameful gain but eagerly." (1 Pet 5:2, and with thanks to John Piper for the reminder.) I chose to do it, because I thought it was important yes, but also because I wanted to and because I enjoy the work - which is just how God would have it. So I need to not see my loyal service as the essential thing and my enjoyment as an (embarrassing) add-on. I need to do my ministy with glad exuberance. :)


* Nb Another thing I've come to see is that, while it is right not to think of myself more highly than I ought, but rather to think with sober judgment and honesty about my complex motives, my sometime meanness and the swath of things I have left undone, and so be cautious in accepting other people's praise . . . it is also right to recognise all the good that God has wrought in me and so to gladly receive commendation.

True feelings

So that I might stand and lie, I have spent the last few days 'attending' Moore College's 2011 School of Theology - 'True Feelings: Emotions in Christian Life and Ministry'.

One of the key threads running through the talks was that we are complex beings, with emotions an integral part of who we are. Many speakers observed the range and intensity of emotions experienced (and thereby validated) by Christ and his apostles. Another key theme was that, if we are to mature as people, we must grow emotionally. This was said to be true not only of our engagement with people and life's circumstances, but even with the process of 'knowing'. A number of speakers suggested that the emotion bound up in biblical narrative, poetry and song helps us to process reality and knowledge in a holistic way. A couple of speakers (Richard Gibson and David Hohne) argued that the Bible depicts emotional growth and the Spirit's presence in times of personal suffering and as we empathise with the sufferings of our brothers and sisters (in contrast to the secular vision for gaining 'emotional intelligence').

I'd like to get better at telling people of my love and concern for them. I'd like to care about them more, with the passion of Paul (and even of Christ), and be more brave in sharing in their joys and sorrows. I'd like to find some Christian music that I actually enjoy, so I can be built up by it.

I rejoice in the fact that we don't just know stuff about God, but we know him. I rejoice in how he has made us, and how his Word is designed to mature us as whole people, and how that's not at all dry. I rejoice in being able to stand together and sing.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Why I care about Christianity

Apologies for the hiatus. I was up north for a week trotting around churches letting them know about my missionary plans. They made me feel very welcome and adopted into the Northern Tasmanian community. Then as I was almost back home, I was part of a nasty four-car accident so have had the last few days off to recover. I'm grateful to be alive and believe that God was actively protecting me that night (and the other people involved in the accident). I'll see how I go with the blogging - it might continue to be a bit thin over the next couple of weeks as I got whiplash and am supposed to be minimising my time on the computer.

For today I wanted to share with you something a friend told me. She was showing me respect by being honest with me, letting me know that she just doesn't care about Christianity. So I asked if she would like to know why it is I do, and she said she would. It's taken a while to express it truely, but this is from my heart...

I care about Christianity because God gave his Son to die for me though he didn't have to.

I care about Christianity because in doing so, he has given me everything that matters - no condemnation, acceptance, peace, adoption as his child, the confidence to approach him as my Dad, help in my life - comfort and strength and stepping in to change circumstances - trust that he is watching over me and working out all things for my good and that even if I die it's okay, certain hope for the future, no fear of death, knowing the right way to live, always being free to live that way, being changed from the inside so I become a better person.

I care about Christianity because Jesus is the most important and wonderful person in my life.

Please pray that I'll be able to convey this to her.

Happy endings in Australia

I'm keen to take an Australian film to Chile, to show them what my country's like. One set in suburbia that captures the spirit of our culture, is neither violent nor depressing and would make sense to someone not familiar with Australian culture (thus ruling out The Castle, sadly). The last criteria is a particularly challenging one, as I'm sure you're aware. (One critic described Australian films as "so dispiriting that they make Leonard Cohen seem positively cheery".) The films I watched were Peaches, One Perfect Day, Danny Deckchair (well, half-watched), Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger, Till Human Voices Wake Us, Prime Mover, Mullet, Ten Empty, Two Fists One Heart, Strange Planet, Travelling Light (half-watched), Three Dollars, and Two Hands. A mixed bag. A few were self-consciously Australian, not in an exuberant, Crocodile Dundee sort of way or in an earnest, Australia sort of way, but in a mildly ironic, emblematic, indie sort of way. Prime Mover, Mullet, and Travelling Light are the ones I'm thinking of. Plus some, like Peaches and Strange Planet, which also had a quietly hopeful, prosaic plot.

Some moved beyond this quiet, suburban irony by exploring subcultures, raving in One Perfect Day, boxing in Two Fists One Heart; teenage experience, Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger, Travelling Light, Till Human Voices Wake Us; and the criminal world, Two Hands. Danny Deckchair was one of those gentle, self-mocking comedies that I don't find funny. Ten Empty was your typical, unredemptive tale of family dysfunction. Till Human Voices Wake Us delved into fantasy and magic realism.

Prime Mover and Mullet were both good, but my favourites were Three Dollars, a sincere, character-driven, redemptive story of a seemingly ordinary man's downfall; Two Fists One Heart, a believably complex story about boxing, fathers and sons, girlfriends, and Australian-Italian culture; and Two Hands, an entertaining fast-paced tale of an unwilling crim. This won the coverted prize of Going In Fiona's Suitcase, for its laconic, unhurried conversations. These three were excellent films, and gave me hope that we can produce hopeful, winsome, sophisticated films after all.

Out of reverence for Christ

Ephesians 5:22-6:9 is about wives and husbands, children and parents, slaves and masters – but I think it's fair enough to carry the gist of these verses across to men and women more generally, to children and adults, workers and bosses. Let's picture it in our churches. How beautiful it would be if in every church, the women respected and submitted to their brothers in Christ; and the men loved their sisters and gave themselves up for them! How beautiful if children obeyed adults; and adults didn't exasperate children, but instead brought them up in the training and instruction of the Lord! How lovely if workers and church members obeyed those over them with respect, fear and sincerity of heart and served wholeheartedly, as if serving the Lord; and if bosses and church leaders didn't threaten the people under them, but showed them the same respect and service! I praise God that I do see something of this in my church.

After you have done everything

I'm quite fond of this year. Things have been going well, nothing heartbreaking has happened and God has given to me a large measure of peace and joy. But it's also been a year of struggle. For many months my heart was telling me that ministry work wasn't worthwhile and I was a self-indulgent drain on the resources of people doing an honest day's work. When that eventually passed away, I found myself feeling that, while ministry work itself was valuable, my particular plans didn't count for much. And after this, I began doubting my own godliness, heavy laden with (disproportionate) guilt. Then I mercifully experienced a few weeks' reprieve, just in time for a round of supportraising at other churches. And most recently, the uncertainty of everything – my departure date in particular – started to make me feel unsettled, frayed.

I tell you all this not to get it off my chest but to testify to what God has told us in Ephesians 6. I assume that all these distracting emotions have been Satan's doing. So to fend him off, I did what God said to do: I put on his full armor, the armor of 'truth', 'righteousness', 'readiness', 'faith', 'salvation', 'the word of God' and 'prayer'. Shielded by these, I was able to 'take my stand against the devil's schemes', to 'stand my ground', and 'after I had done everything', 'to stand firm'. I didn't do anything spectacular or decisive, I just kept on going, reminding myself of things that my mind and heart once knew to be true, reading his word and praying to him, and not giving in to what I was feeling. It's been a muddled time, but it's been okay too. I knew God well enough to feel sure that he would look after me, as he has indeed done. Things are going well and I thank him for it.

Good to see ya

I love my church but, usually, I find it tricky to relate to people of a Sunday afternoon. As I look out on the crowd of people, I become a little overwhelmed, befuddled and panicked. My confidence and social adroitness almost palpably drop away. I remind myself that it can be about quality - I can talk with just one person all evening if I want. This helps me to relax, but I remain rattled by the sense of all the people around me.

All this until the last couple of Sundays when maybe, just maybe I hit upon a solution. The Sunday before last was the first time back in the adults' service for a couple of months. I was pumped to be sitting there with my people, listening to the sermon and worshipping God. After the service I found myself wandering around, gladly talking to people. I think that could be the key: simply be happy to see everyone and the rest will take care of itself. When I'm happy to see people, I invest in them, easily. I chat warmly to newcomers, and keep an eye out for lonely people, but not in an intense way. I forget the pressure-fuelled relating that a crowd usually inspires. I stop talking to people out of duty. I forget my social skills, which means they're actually there. And it's not as though being happy to see people is something I have to force - I love those guys!

Where I live

Playing to your strengths?

My friend and I were talking about how to serve our church and community. There are so many things we could do! Perhaps it's enough to work out the gifts and talents that God has given us and concentrate on using these for the common good (1 Cor 12:7). But what about needs and opportunities that don't play to our strengths? What about esteeming weakness, so that God's strength might be revealed?

When Paul rejoices in his weakness, it is because in weakness, God's power becomes sufficient, even perfect (2 Cor 12:7-10). In the midst of his weakness, God's power rests on Paul and so he revels in God's strength. So too, our gifts are given to us in our weakness - "What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" (1 Cor 4:7). These strengths not of our own making are God's power resting on us.

We are to use our gifts to serve wholeheartedly. And we are to remember that we are part of a body, with all the parts arranged just as God wanted them to be (1 Cor 12:18). So if a need or an opportunity comes along that we would do a poor job of, it might very well be that another part of the body can step in and step up. But we are not to be dogmatic about it; we are to imitate our Lord's spirit of generosity and sacrifice. We must trust that, as he daily gives us the familiar power of our gifts, he will also give us unusual power to do this fearsome thing.


H/T Shiloh

What's should women's ministry look like?

You can't decide in abstract what workers a church must have - you have to begin by looking at the needs of the actual group of people and potential leaders that God has given you.

Any church leader's role (male or female) is to help the pastor lift up the whole congregation, to prepare the people for acts of service. This is generally done by calling on people's shared humanity. There is no longer male or female for we are all one in Jesus, and we are to use our freedom to serve one another in love. I think that this is the best way of affirming any one category of people within the church, whether women, singles, internationals, or the elderly. It's something I love about my church - we know that we should each do our bit, as we are able, so we pitch in and help each other.

As part of lifting up the whole church, a particular leader can be given responsibility for a specific group - say the women (as in Titus 2). In this situation, the leader is not the "older woman" of Titus 2, but a pastor. Their goal is to see the older women of the church training the younger. The pastor may explicitly disciple and ready the older women for their role, or they may simply model the teaching of younger women. (There may also be times when they forget all this and just get on and do the work, because it needs doing.)

The person taking on this 'women's pastor' role can be a man or a woman. It may be better for a woman to do it because of her unique insight/experience, or because people aren't ready for a man to take on the role. Again, I like it how at Crossroads we uphold women - and expect men to be competent at traditional women's roles. So we have one man heading up our children's ministry and another managing our weekly mums' Bible study. It wasn't planned this way: they were just the best people for the jobs at the time.


H/T Dan

Support

Dear reader, if you would like to support me financially in my missionary work, then I would be very glad of that, especially as this is just what I'm waiting on before I can head off. Write to fiona.lockett@sim.org or facebook message me and I can send you out a snazzy brochure.

If you would prefer to join in my work through prayer then get in touch with me and I'll put you on the email list for my (monthly, brief) news & prayer letter. Or you can just pray about stuff you read here and on my other blog.

And if you'd like to write and encourage me, then please leave comments on my blogs or write to the email address above.

Big thanks for your big heart, and to God for his.

Fiona the Life Coach

I've interviewed people at the MTS Challenge conference before and felt out of my depth, like I didn't have anything much useful to say. I must've learned a thing or two since then, cos I had no trouble reeling off advice to younger women trying to work out their life's direction. Either that or I've just become more opinionated. 

If you're really pumped for your current study/job, then devote yourself to that. Work out how to be a Christian accountant or security guard and do it wholeheartedly. Don't do an MTS apprenticeship - it's not designed to be experience for its own sake, but for a particular end (to work out if you're cut out for fulltime paid ministry and to prepare you for it). The only reason you'd do an apprenticeship is if you're considering doing part-time paid ministry and part-time 'secular' work. Then perhaps you should give a part-time apprenticeship a burl - keeping in mind that it's tough to do both well. 

If you can't knock a particular sin on the head, think if you've understood God's freely-given grace. If it's still a mystery, then pray hard about it and concentrate on getting your head around it and your heart in love with it. Keep battling with your sin, but cut yourself a bit of slack and don't expect too much until you have better understood his grace.

If you struggle with some church teaching, work out why it bothers you. It could be a wrong cultural or upbringing thing, in which case you can't make it go away but you can stop it from affecting your actions and decisions. It could be an understanding the Bible thing, in which case you should weigh up the very best arguments on both sides. You don't have to do this stuff alone either - you can recruit your pastor or a friend.

If you really believe your non-Christian friends are heading to hell, then you will want to obey God's command to make the most of every opportunity to evangelise them. But don't lose the rest of the Bible's teachings in the process, or your God-given humanity. The God of urgency also commands us to speak with gentleness and respect. And if your friends reject your message, then you are to love them still and keep on enjoying life with them.

Consider holding off on getting married until you've hurt each other bad and had to work through that, and until your relationship has lost its thrill and become 'normal'. It's a massive decision, so take people's advice on board, but also know that there are no hard-and-fast rules when it comes to romance. It's a mysterious thing and the most healthy marriages can have had the most messy starts. In the end it comes down to whether you are happy to commit to this person for life.

If you're flat out doing Christian activities, stop and think about where your primary responsibilities lie. First up should be your church, your immediate family (of birth or marriage), (your boyfriend/girlfriend), and your studies/job. Then comes your parents and siblings if you're married, your friends, and any other Christian ministries you're involved in. Think if you're doing a good job of your primary responsibilities. If you're not, you may need to cut back on something from the secondary rung. Remember that the world won't fall apart if you do - God will sort things out.

Don't think that being a Christian physiotherapist or teacher is the same as being a pastor or youth worker. Peppering your working days with conversations about Jesus doesn't always play out - often the reality is that you're simply too busy doing your job to talk about anything meaningful. Probably the most luck you'll have is with your workmates, and even then lunchroom chatter can be pretty bitchy or bland. It's still a profoundly valuable ministry to plug away at being a productive and reliable employee and to go out of your way to show care and concern for your colleagues. You may be the only Christian that people know and that is a precious thing. But it could be that you would be more effective if you worked fulltime for the church.

If you already do a bit at church, you enjoy what you do and think you might be okay at it, then you should begin to consider fulltime paid ministry. The best way to do this is to ask people who know you what they think your gifts are and what they think of the idea, and to keep on having a go at things. Push yourself; try things outside your comfort zone - you'll get a better idea of what you're capable of and you might just enjoy it. If you have a passion for something or someplace - maybe you love teaching teenagers or you are fascinated by Chile - then take that seriously. Our God is the sort of God who would (generally speaking) have us love what it is we do.

If you're considering fulltime paid ministry, then do an MTS apprenticeship. The whole point of it is to give people a try - so there's nothing to lose. If it ends up not being for you, then you've gained some valuable experience and skills and you'll be an excellent support to your pastor. But only do it if you can find someone who would do a great job of supervising you. Just because they're a great pastor doesn't mean they'll be a great trainer. The apprenticeship stands or falls on how good your trainer is.

Don't think that you have to finish your uni degree. You probably should: it's good practice to finish what you start and it could be helpful later on. But you don't have to if there's good reason not to.

If you have hesitations or concerns about going into ministry, take them seriously. You don't have to go into ministry - you must be willing and eager. It can be a tough gig and it's unlike other jobs. You do have to have a certain amount of toughness or resilience, especially if you're a woman. Even if your concerns are sinful, they are still there and need to be dealt with.

If you're thinking of being a missionary, the first step is to have a look at your church involvement here. It's pretty unlikely that you'll be able to contribute in another culture if you're not doing so in your own. Work out if you're a leader or not. You can still go if you're not, but it will affect the sort of roles you should consider - you'll need to go to help out with something specific or to do your regular job and live as a mature Christian in a place where they may be few and far between.

Two people

We are clearly two people. We are who we are and who we want to be

- The Gruen Transfer (31/8/11)

The quote goes on to say: "and in advertising we tend to focus on the second one, and we want to be healthy eaters, we want to be a Supermum, we want to be great parents, and we feel guilty that we're not actually achieving these things".

Perhaps this is as close as our culture gets to talking about sin and human limitation. It's a place worth starting.

Tassie Christians

At the recent and throughly awesome MTS Challenge conference, Andrew Cameron made a passing comment about the unique perspective of Tasmanian Bible college students. He spoke a little hesitantly, perhaps afraid that we might feel patronised, but he needn't have - we love hearing serious talk about our uniqueness. (We are - that is, I am - not so keen on jokes about the same.) He said he couldn't put his finger on just what it was, so I've had a go.

I think that Tassie Christians bring three things to the Sydney scene. For starters, there's not many of us down here: in most circumstances you'd have to work pretty hard to live your life in a Christian bubble. We all go to school and uni with non-Christians and have plenty of workmates and friends who don't share our beliefs. We know what it is to stand up for what we believe and to make ethical choices; we know how people around us tick, almost without thinking; and we don't get our knickers in knots over peripheral issues.

We're also creative people. Not only creative, but eccentric. Or if we're neither, we're probably comfortable with both. The eccentricity comes of living on an island - it does something unusual to people, or perhaps it just attracts certain types. This gives permission for normal people to express their eccentric side. The creativity just comes from this place. I'm not sure why, but at least some of it has to do with the gorgeous beauty of this island. Anyway, these things enable us to come up with fresh ideas and approaches or fresh packaging of old ideas. And because we're familiar with oddities and grey areas, we're slow to jump to conclusions, to interfere or judge others, because, rather than doing something wrong, they might just be doing something wierd. So we give people space to be or to develop and change.

What do you say?

Yoof

Faithful readers of this blog (note the emotional manipulation) will know that I have 'a thing' about how we treat teenagers. I'm all for treating them as adults before their time (well, adults with assistance). I know it's nowhere near that simple in gritty practice.

I've come across a couple things lately that sit nicely with my idealism. In one Hobart church, young teenagers are given sermon outlines (much like churches might do for international students), and sat off to one side of the room with their 'youth leaders' while the sermon is preached. This way they can quietly talk through any points of confusion.

A northern Tasmanian church holds 'youth group' straight after the Sunday service, so everyone can eat together and talk through what they learned.

No games here folks: I'm the Fun Police.


H/T Elbie and Simon

Like a stranger in a foreign country

Though I'm a Christian, I feel as Australian as I ever did. Yet there are some things about me that are un-Australian. I don't feel a pull to buy Australian-made (because I worry about people overseas as well). I don't bitch about our politicians. I'm not looking to buy a home. I don't think that hanging with family and friends on the weekend is what life's all about. I don't always feel 100% at home here, and I even sometimes feel closer to foreigners who are Christian than to my fellow Australians. So perhaps I actually am a little less Australian than before. But I don't feel like I've been denied - being part of God's beautifully diverse people is better by far.

So much for my cultural identity, but what of others? I never want to be the sort of missionary who forces/entices people into giving up what is precious and good in their own culture. I certainly don't want to create a mini-Australia in Chile. But I do want the people there to give up the things in their culture that are bad or that come from an feeble vision of what life can be. I want them to join me in looking for a better country and for the heavenly city prepared by their unashamed God.

At the market

Church communities always want to be a meaningful part of the wider community. We already are, of course. We each go to the shops, to our jobs, see our relatives, have a sign out the front of the church... But how can people really get to know us, and not just individually, but as the messed-up, diverse, connected group that we are?

One way is to get involved in the community. Host a soup give-away, draw up a roster for visiting folk in an Old People's Home, or field an indoor soccer team. But maybe then we'll never quite get around to talking about church or about what it is that joins us Christians together.

What one church up the north of Tassie does is to have a stall at the local market. I don't know what they have on the stall - I imagine Christian books and pamphlets and maybe some homemade jams to give away or sell for cheap. You could put a heap of effort into this sort of thing and be massively generous and welcoming... and informative. That's the good thing about stalls - they have an identity - it's not just a group of people, but this group of people. You'd soon get known as 'the church stall' (or something ruder), and if the people manning the stall were friendly types, they'd soon get to be known as friendly types. And maybe someone might come along who would like to learn something about what joins us Christians together.


H/T Peter

I don't usually go for conspiracy theories

I've only been keeping half an eye on the news lately, but it seems to me that things just aren't adding up in Libya. I don't want world leaders to tell me the whole truth and nothing but the truth - I've seen enough of West Wing to know that political maneuvering is complex and that sometimes spin is for the greater good. What I do expect is that the official line will vaguely approximate the truth. Here's what I'm seeing:

1. The vulnerable people of Libya are protected by Nato airstrikes, but not the vulnerable people of, say, Syria.
2. Nato countries agreed to airstrikes in order to protect the people of Libya, but, without explanation, rhetoric and efforts soon shifted to ousting Gaddafi.
3. The poverty-striken Libyan people have acquired sufficient arms to mount a ground offensive against Gaddafi's presumably well-equipped military.

Just what is going on?

Unified together and apart

I love the unity that is shared by all Christian churches - but I don't think that unity has to necessarily be given expression in joint ministry. I was trying to work out why some inter-church activities float my boat and others don't. This is what I came up with. I'm passionate about healthy local churches. Wherever possible, I want to see individual churches taking responsibility for things like world mission and women's teaching and fellowship. But I also love to see churches banding together to pull off a conference or bold ministry project they never could have done apart.

Seeing it for what it is

You may be noticing a theme here... ;). It's borne of doing missionary promotion at churches not my own and with people unfamiliar to me. So here's another thing I've been learning: you need to be grateful whenever people show affection and ownership towards you and your ministry. If they don't do it how you would like it, so what - their intentions are beautiful. You need to forget the exterior and look to the heart.

The gist

This isn't a biggie: more a note to self. And other people like me. Before you, Fiona, go getting your back up about something biblically unsound that someone has said, stop and think about what they meant. Very often you'll be okay with what they meant, even if you wish they'd used different words to say it.

So when someone prays that you will be "in the centre of God's will" (as a number of people have been praying for me recently), it's charitable to assume that they don't believe in a impotent God who is stymied by our choices. What they probably mean is that in this life we can act rightly and wisely, or wrongly and foolishly, and that to chose the former is to keep in step with the most wholesome and happy vision God has for our lives. And if we stray from this, it's not that God somehow loses control over things, just that our lives are more difficult and damaged than they might have been.

Getting inside their head

One thing that always bugs me is when people make no effort to understand each other, when their first reaction is to assume the worst of another person, rather than examining the part they themselves play. If people aren't signing up for your event, don't just lay a guilt trip on them - reflect on the attractiveness and relevance of the event. Perhaps it is relevant, but sloppy promotion doesn't get that across. Perhaps the packaging's sexy but the content doesn't hit the mark. Maybe for your event to flourish it will need to achieve these things across a cultural barrier of ethnicity or age or money. Whatever the case, it could be that if you change things your end, you just might change everything.

Capítulo El Segundo

There are a few new posts over at Chapter The Second which you might like to check out. It won't really get cranking til I'm in Chile though.

PS I have no idea if that word order is okay in Spanish, or if it has the same, old-school effect.

Raising kids

I was speaking to some women the other day who were heavily involved in raising their younger siblings. Now they're in their thirties, in happy relationships but with no desire to ever have kids of their own. I found that really sad. A good reminder to not ask kids to be adults before their time.

Not fair

Kids say "It's not fair!" when what they mean is "I don't like it!". So why the appeal to justice? I wonder if, in being forced to do an unpleasant thing, they presume that the adult is choosing to be mean and tightfisted when they might be magnanimous and kind. The sort of ugly assumption made by Eve.

Or, perhaps it's a protest against the very existence of unpleasant things, a no to the very possibility of packing up toys and not being allowed to start painting before dinner.

Dora and heaven

When I was visiting a friend last Monday, she had to go comfort her little girl weeping in her bedroom. She was upset because one of her best friends, her teddy Dora, won't be going to heaven. Now while I've come to terms with leaving Big Ted behind, I can still relate to how she was feeling. I hope to get married one day and the knowledge that there will be no marriage in heaven has always troubled me.

What my friend told her little girl is what I need to hear when I worry that good things will be missing in heaven.

Heaven is a real place, just as real as Hobart and it's going to be a good place. It's going to be perfect! And God knows you and loves you very much and he will look after you in heaven and you will be very happy.

H/T Nikki

How art should be used to grow a banana

Some while back the Christian group at Tas uni hosted an artists' forum. Gosh it was good - and just as dense and stimulating on the second and third listen. On the panel were a poet/writer, a graphic designer/musician and a poet/painter/writer. They had all obviously given a lot of thought to their responses, and spoke with honesty and insight about their experience and observations on the process and place of artistic endeavour. The first 20 minutes was about their personal journeys and individual crafts, and after that they explored the relationship between Christian faith and art.

I kinda did a painting course at Art School and that was when I became a Christian. So I guess a few people who became Christians around that time can relate to this feeling of being a bit punk about being a Christian and having a lot of impatience for aesthetic subtlety and stuff that takes a long time and stuff that perculates and relationships... [Nicholas Gross]

I think it can sometimes stretch art - and I guess I'm talking about especially figurative art, not so much books and films cos they've got a bit more scope - but it's stretching that medium a bit to ask it to do too much and to be too didatic. And just thinking about your conversion story, I guess we're so sensitive about kitsh, we're so sensitive about happy endings - I'm not sure why, whether it's just we see such a volume of pictures and read such a volume of things that we're very sensitive to that kind of easy answer - so maybe it is hard to picture and to represent that kind of stuff in a convincing way, in a way that really compels - you really need those twists. [Nicholas Gross]

Art can have any number of functions and forms and aesthetics that go alongside it. To say that art is just about representing reality is a very sort of maybe 15th to 16th century view of art into about the 19th century view of art. I mean art for the Egyptians was a completely different thing and thus took different forms. Art for Rothko was a very different thing and took different forms. So I can imagine art for conversion I guess - because as a liberal minded person I want to say that art can be used for all sorts of things, and throughout history has been used for all sorts of things. But I think that, given our culture's understanding of the function of art since the early 20th century and through a tradition that began earlier than that, I think it's really difficult to think of art as being directly towards conversion. Cos it's a bit like saying how art should be used to grow a banana or something like that - it's missing the point. [Ben Walter]

A trap of your own making

In The Weekend Australia a few weeks ago Frank Furedi wrote an insightful piece about the intolerant exclusion of those opposed to homosexual marriage from even the conversation of 'modern society'. I commend it to you.

Yet, for all its perspicuity, the article suffers from the same thing it criticises. Furedi chides those who define an anti gay marriage position out of all consideration - "The declaration that certain values and attitudes are incompatible with modern society tends to serve as a prelude towards stigmatising and attempting to silence it. That is why the so-called enlightened opponents of 'old-time religion' more than match the intolerance of those they denounce as homophobic bigots.".

But this is exactly how he frames his own argument. He begins with: "Whatever one thinks about the pros and cons of gay marriage, a tolerant society cannot deny the right of homosexual couples to formalise their relationship", and ends: "In such circumstances elite-sanctioned snobbish intolerance is no more acceptable than anti-gay prejudice". It seems that the pull to be on "the right side of the cultural divide" is even stronger than Furedi recognises. A careful reader needs must come away confused. It is intolerant and unfair to simply dismiss those who oppose gay marriage - that much is clear. Yet it is equally unacceptable to be in any way won over to their position. So one must tolerantly allow their participation in the national discussion, as long as one's mind is made up from the get-go. Huh?

My love is like a red red rose

Listening to a foreign language is like dancing. You enter this strange state of passive alertness. Not knowing what will happen next or not understanding everything that is said, you have to sit back and wait. You respond as you can and as it happens.

Unmerited suspicion is like rascism. You haven't done anything wrong and you have no bad intent, but the other person thinks the worst of you. They treat you with a severity and defensiveness appropriate for a rebel. You recoil at your false label and wish to explain or protest, but you have been prejudged and there is no-one who will hear.

Simple and strong

Sometimes emotions take over and what's good and right no longer feels that way. We adults become more like kids, unable to understand very much at all. That's why it's so good that even kids can understand the Gospel - Jesus died for us when we were sinners so that everything might always be okay between us and God. That's the sort of thing you can tell yourself when you're overwhelmed by guilt and melancholy - and though it might not feel true, you can still hold on to the fact that it happened and that not even your negativity can undo what was achieved on those two beams of wood.

Cine en español

For the last five months I've been watching one Spanish-language film a week - and I've just run out. I've seen all the films in the Sandy Bay, South Hobart and North Hobart video shops - well, all except for a couple in black-and-white, a B-grade sci-fi and a handful that look especially violent or erotic. I'm not quite sure what to do next, but I thought that I could at least share my recommendations with you. Oh, and do keep in mind that I can only faintly remember many of these.

• Rudo y Cursi [Rudo and Cursi] - Mexico ✭✭✭✭ Hilarious comedy about a couple of dimwitted half-brothers who make it big in football, only to squander their riches. A great introduction to latin cinema and a rare treat in that it can safely be watched by the whole family.

• Under The Same Moon [La Misma Luna] - Mexico ✭✭✭ Another excellent introduction to latin cinema that can be watched by the whole family (although the second half gets a bit scary). An engaging, entertaining and poignant story of a boy trekking through Mexico to join his mother trying to make some money in the US.
  

• Bombón: El Perro [Bombón: The Dog] - Argentina ✭✭✭✭ Another family-friendly film (the last of the three) with an unusual subject - a poor Patagonian mechanic who has the chance to make it big when he is given a prize-winning dog.
  

• The Secret In Their Eyes [El Secreto De Sus Ojos] - Argentina ✭✭✭ An ex-cop returning to an old murder investigation and a romance. Excellent, engaging, character-driven, poignant and ultimately disturbing thriller.
  

• Pan's Labyrinth [El Laberinto Del Fauno] - Spain ✭✭✭✭ I enjoyed this more on the second viewing. Quite unlike any other Spanish-language film I've seen. A dark, inventive fairytale. Violence.
  

• Amores Perros [Love's A Bitch] - Mexico ✭✭✭ Excellent, edgy drama. Infidelity and a dogfighting underworld. Violence.
  

• Y Tu Mamá También [And Your Mother Too] - Mexico ✭✭✭ I seem to remember a lot of sex/sexiness in this film - it would be excellent if only it wasn't there, but then it's that sort of film. Infidelity and experimental sex on a roadtrip.
  

• Talk To Her [Hable Con Ella] - Spain ✭✭✭ This is an excellent drama but quite uncomfortable to watch because somehow the unhealthiness of the main character creeps up on you. Intermingled lives and women in comas.
  

• Volver [Return] - Spain ✭ This was an annoying, caricatured comic drama about a dead mother and a recent murder. It could just be a case of humour not crossing the cultural barrier. But it does include some magic realism, which always gets me off-side.
  

• Sin Nombre [Without Name] - Mexico? ✭✭✭✭ Excellent edgy drama about a girl making the dangerous trip through Central America to the US with her erstwhile absent father, uncle and cousin, and about an unlikely friendship that develops along the way. Gang culture. Violence.
  

• Broken Embraces [Los Abrazos Rotos] - Spain ✭ An irritating film for similar reasons as Volver (and by the same director - but I do like his other work). This one's a serious drama and the over-dramatic acting and storyline never worked for me. Infidelity, romance and tragedy.
  

• The Sea Inside [Mar Adentro] - Spain ✭✭ Great drama about a man's campaign for his own 'euthanasia' and the relationships with the people in his life. The man - and the film's - dogged pursuit of death made me feel a bit ill though.
  

• All About My Mother [Todo Sobre Mi Madre] - Spain ✭✭✭ Great drama about stars, ordinary people and transvestite prostitutes. The storyline is poignant but the content disturbing.
  

• Nine Queens [Nueve Reinas] - Argentina ✭✭✭ Fun thriller about a money-making scam.
  

• Maria Full Of Grace [María Llena Eres De Gracia] - Colombia ✭✭✭✭ I watched this a long while ago but it was very powerful. I felt like it captured both the ordinariness and extremity of this girl's life and experience as a drug mule travelling to the US.
  

• Intacto [Intact] - Spain ✭✭ Strange, faintly magical thriller about luck and variants of Russian Roulette.
  

• El Crimen Del Padre Amaro [The Crime Of Father Amaro] - Mexico ✭✭✭ Great drama about druglords, devotion, girls and moral compromise in the Catholic church. Bit too sexual in places.
  

• Belle Epoque - Spain ✭ Massively B-grade comedy set in civil-war Spain about an ex-soldier choosing between (read: taking turns of) a farmer's daughters. Could only bear to watch it because of the Spanish, but then maybe I just don't get Spanish humour.
  

• El Método [The Method] - Spain ✭✭ An engaging and somewhat troubling thriller about a strange, nasty group job interview. Quite a bit of gratuitous sex :(
  

• Our Lady Of The Assassins [La Virgen De Los Sicarios] - Colombia ✭✭✭ Evocative and well-acted story about survival, homosexuality, companionship and violence. Leaves you feeling a bit used and despairing-
  

• Nicotina [Nicotine] - Mexico ✭✭ Madcap thriller about a diamond heist gone wrong.
  

Like Australia cinema, latin cinema often focuses on the dark side of life. It tends to do so in a fast-paced, dramatic style, rather than the relentlessly ugly grind of Australia drama. Violence, gangs, drug cartels and trafficking and illegal immigration crop up repeatedly, as does everyday poverty and infidelity. In my opinion, the films are generally of a very high standard - excellent scripts, characters and cinematography.

Spiritual warfare

Wierd, 'spiritual' stuff happens in Latin America. Perhaps the animist beliefs of the indigenous peoples have had a greater influence than in Australia. In any case, it made sense for me to think this stuff through. I was helped by Christ's Victory Over Evil: Biblical Theology and Pastoral Ministry1, although I have sometimes drawn different conclusions. Here goes.

Satan's capabilities

• Satan is furious - he is running around the earth, trying to cause as much damage as he can in the short time that remains (Lk 4:6; Jn 12:31; 1 Pet 5:8; 1 Jn 5:19; Rev 12:7-17; cf Jn 17:15) before his own destruction (Mt 25:41; Rev 20:10).

• His methods are to: make people forget or misinterpret the truth (Gen 3; tempting of Jesus; parable of the sower; 2 Cor 4:4); promise better things than God (Gen 3; Lk 4:5-6); 'close doors' (1 Thess 2:18); lie (Gen 3; Jn 8:44; Acts 13:10; cf Rev 2:24); cause suffering (Job 1-2; Lk 13:16; Paul's thorn in the flesh; Rev 2:10); murder (Jn 8:44; Rom 5:12; Heb 2:14); tempt people to sin (Job 1-2, 1 Chr 21:1; Jesus, Peter, Judas, Ananias and Sapphira; 1 Cor 7:5; 1 Thess 3:5); seek worship (Mat 4:9; 1 Cor 10:19-20); accuse (Zech 3:1; Rev 12:10; cf Heb 2:14); produce counterfeit miracles (2 Thess 2:9); and cause division (2 Cor 2:10-11; Eph 4:26-27).

• Any and all of these things are done with God's permission, and as part of a larger, good plan (Job 1-2; Lk 22:31-32 and John 21:15-19; Acts 2:23ff; 2 Cor 12:7-10; Rev 12:7f).
  

• At the cross, those who trust in Jesus were completely freed from slavery to Satan and from fear of death. He no longer has any claim on us, nor is there ever a situation in which we will find ourselves unable to resist his temptation (Jn 12:31; Rom 8:5-9, 15; 1 Cor 10:13; Col 2:13-15; Heb 2:14-15; Jas 4:7; 1 Jn 2:13-14; 3:8-10; 4:4; cf Acts 26:17-18; 1 Jn 4:18-19). God is protecting us, and there exists no accusation or demon that can ever separate us from his love (Jn 17:15; Rom 8:33-39; 2 Thess 3:3; 1 Jn 5:18) - yet life will not be without suffering (Jn 15:18-20 etc).

• While we live on earth we are in Satan's domain, and, though we no longer owe him any allegiance, we are not yet wholly sanctified. This means that at times we will sin (1 Jn 1:8-10). It is even possible for a beliver to sin badly (cf Moses, King David, Peter). Yet - provided we do not continue in unrepentance (Mat 18:15-17; Rom 2:4-5; cf Heb 4:14-16; 10:19-22) - we are still just as much a Christian as we were before, for our standing before God depends not on our own righteousness but on Christ's (Rom 3:21-24; Gal 2:15-16, 21).
  

• If we do follow Satan's ways and sin, it is always a choice we have made, stemming from the evil desires that remain within us (Rom 7:8; Eph 2:1-3; 4:17-24). As far as I can see, the Bible speaks only of non-believers being possessed by demons, yet I think it possible that a Christian can be so caught up in a sin that they appear to be possessed by it. The key is that, whatever they may feel or however bad the situation may seem, a Christian is never actually a slave to sin or demonic influence - they can break away at any point.
  

The Christian response

• Christians are to be on the lookout for the devil's schemes. We are to resist his advances and stand firm in our obedience and faith, looking instead to Jesus (1 Cor 7:5; 2 Cor 2:10-11; Eph 4:26-27; 6:10-13f; Col 2:16ff; Jas 4:7; 1 Pet 5:8-9; Rev 2:10; cf Heb 12:1-2). We are to pray to God for strength and protection (Eph 6:18) - but we don't have to perform any special ceremony to ensure our protection; we don't have to speak to demons; we don't have to pray a special prayer for Jesus' blood to cover us. We just have to keep on living a righteous life even when this is very hard to do. And, should we fail in this, we just have to ask for God's forgiveness.
  

• Despite the fact that this normal Christian response is to be unspectacular, I think that it could be appropriate to command a demon to leave a non-believer in Christ's name, or perhaps to tell a demon to stop tempting a believer (the latter has less biblical warrant). Yet even if this is okay, I would not expect it to be a regular feature of Christian life, or it would have been commanded in the New Testament letters - and certainly any actual conversation with demons should not be entertained (Isa 8:19-20 and Jesus' silencing of demons). But I can think of no reason why the sort of exorcism performed by Jesus and his disciples would be categorically wrong today. I don't mean to equate my role with the disciples and obviously never with Jesus himself - I'm more coming from a place of knowing that it is, generally speaking, good to imitate their righteous actions.
  

So, in all, Satan is clever but conquered, and because of this, Christians are to be alert and unafraid.


PG Bolt (ed), Christ's Victory Over Evil: Biblical Theology and Pastoral Ministry (Nottingham: APOLLOS, 2009)