A GIRL!! God is good. Amy Fleur Picard welcome to the world. Margaret gave birth to a girl yesterday at 5.30pm she weighs 7lb 6oz. Both are doing well. Dad and Olivia are so proud of Mum and Amy. There's big goofy grins all over the place!! The photo is from a cellphone so its not the greatest quality but from my totally neutral position I think she's the cutest little poppet in the world!!
Conrad Gempf's book Jesus Asked is now able to be accessed online for free here. I'm reading his Mealtime Habits of the Messiah. In his book he notes how we Westerners often enjoy pointing to the Pharisees as examples of people who Jesus didn’t like because they took the requirements of the Old Testament law too seriously. “We cherish the passages where Jesus tells them to loosen up. Why? Not because we are in the same situation as the Pharisees, so we need to hear what Jesus told them. We love it because “Lighten up” is already our motto.” Gempf points out that there is much that Jesus taught that is not easy or comforting. It’s difficult and offensive. We shouldn’t focus on the passages of the Bible that contain answers that resonate with us. “For instance, too many rich people name and claim promises like “God will provide”. Instead, maybe we should make little religious knick-knack vases wth dried flowers in them and “Woe to the rich” embossed in gold letters. Yes, Jesus loves us dearly, but we’re told he disciplines those he loves. Where are the t-shirts with the motto “Jesus had stern words for people like me”?”
It made me think what is a motto for a tee shirt that captures something of the radicalness of the gospel?
This week our sermon text is Exodus 6:1-13. I'm especially struck by the description of the Israelites having a broken spirit. I think when it comes to describing our feelings, the word broken is an incredibly powerful descriptor. Brokenness not in the cool sense of "not having it all together" but brokenness in the raw sense of busted and ruined. There's only a couple of times in my life I can remember being broken or having my spirit broken and they're so personal that I won't share them on an internet blog in case someone didn't treat them with respect. What happens when the cause of your brokenness is God? In last week's passage we saw that Moses felt that God had failed him. His brokenness leaked out all over the place. "O Lord, why have you mistreated this people?" Moses blamed Pharaoh's mistreatment of the Israelites squarely on God not Pharaoh. God promised to deliver them but he hasn't come through on his promises. God had failed them. "Since I first came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has mistreated this people, and you have done nothing at all to deliver your people." I'm struck this week by the words "Moses told this (God's message of redemption) to the Israelites; but they would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery." Broken is a powerful descriptor.
Conrad Gempf, NT lecturer at London School of Theology, wrote a book called Jesus Asked. Through some sweet relationship with Zondervan the book is going to be available to listen to via podcast. Go here to read more. It's not available yet but seems like it will be very soon. I haven't read this book but I really like the stuff I've read from Conrad Gempf (some of you might know him from the Christian Life & series.
I've had to turn on word verification for posts - I've been spammed. Sorry for the hassle.
I've heard many people comment that a lot of churches today only seem to be interested in 3 B's: Bricks, bums and bucks - bricks for flash buildings, bums on seats and bucks in the bank. On the weekend we agreed as a church that we would build a deck to flow out of an already existing hall that we use as it would enhance what God is doing in terms of our hospitaility to the community and to our own church community. I do worry that I might have fallen into the trap of the 3 B's but I'm (genuinely) confident I can justify this decision (can't we always justify our decisions?!).
My wife is due in the next 2-3 weeks to give birth to our 2nd baby - it's very exciting. If I had one wish it would be that she would hurry up. The reason why is that the passage below is where we are up to in our sermon series on Exodus and frankly I'd rather be on paternity leave and give this one to someone else!
On the way, at the place of where they spent the night, the LORD met him and tried to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin, and touched his feet with it, and said, "Truly you are a bridegroom of blood to me!" So he let him alone. It was then she said, "A bridegroom of blood by circumcision."
I thought I had carefully crafted this sermon series so that I would be off on paternity leave when this passage raised its ugly head. Come on Margaret, hurry up!! If ever there was a verse that I wished scribes through the centuries had edited out it would be this one!