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!
The worship seminar went well on the weekend. As usual I totally overprepared. I'm haunted by the words of a trusted friend who suggested to me recently that I'm a perfectionist. He meant not in a good way but rather in a way that trusts in myself and my abilities rather than God and God's strength!
Anyway, enough self-flagellation! No blood was spilt on the carpet over the weekend. This is no mean feat when you have a room full of people who are very talented and passionate musicians and you are trying to ask questions about the content of some of their favourite songs! We all had a great time exploring what is worship and what are we trying to do on a Sunday morning? We had some very robust discussions at times where we let our differences grow us (I hope). I suggested that Sunday worship is less about creating a certain "experience" for people and more about spiritual formation of the people of God. Less about "getting something out of it" and more about growing a gospel people. Rather than making experience primary and trying to create some emotions we need to be faithful to the gospel (content) and allow that to produce it's own experiences. This will sometimes mean profound thankfulness and joy but other times lament or confession or wrestling with God. If we make experience (especially creating that warm fuzzy feeling) primary we run the risk of abusing the gospel for our own ends (i.e. creating an experience). We need to trust in the power of the gospel to grow a gospel people and allow this to create it's own experiences. My conclusion was that Sunday morning worship is about nurturing and growing a gospel people. Therefore, the content matters to make sure we are growing a gospel people and not just any sort of people.
A couple of fantastic and haunting quotes I really like in my research which both come from a journal article by Kevin Vanhoozer called "Worship at the Well" in the Trinity Journal 23 (2002):
"We worship what we know. If our knowledge is not deep, our worship won't be either."
"Our worship [and prayer] is the index to how well we have understood our faith."
And finally a quote from N.T. Wright (via Vanhoozer's article):
"If your idea of God...[and] salvation offered in Christ, is vague or remote, your idea of worship will be fuzzy and ill-informed."
"Let's face it. Christianity is a spectacular means to an end. We have a power structure that is open and accessible to people who have not earned or been granted much power from our culture. In local churches, there is money to be made, power to be had and opportunities to be seized. A man or woman who may not be successful in the business world can be chairman of the deacons, head of the parish committee or a member of the board of directors. For some, Christianity is only the means to an end, and whenever that happens, things turn ugly."
Real Live Preacher has written an outstanding article on an issues that every church faces and every Christian faces - the use and abuse of POWER! You can get to it via his website (which I'd recommend so that you can read the comments) or directly from this link.
At our church we have travelled through the gospel of Luke and are now looking at the book of Exodus. Prominent in both is the journey motif (Luke 9:52ff and the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land). I read this today that captures beautifully something of the significance of journeying.
Wow! I don't know who reads this blog (whether it's only 1 or 2 people or what). Today I had a comment left by Sean Dietrich who I've never heard of before. He's a Christian musician - songwriter who's been influenced by Keith Green and he seems like a really humble guy who loves Jesus. I'd encourage you to read his bio and listen to his music (free to download) - if his bio doesn't bring tears to your eyes then you've got a fridge for a heart!
 | I can't seem to avoid Barth. If you liked the last quiz then go and have a crack at this one. Unfortunately, some of the language is a bit archaic and gender exclusive! You scored as Karl Barth. The daddy of 20th Century theology. You perceive liberal theology to be a disaster and so you insist that the revelation of Christ, not human experience, should be the starting point for all theology.
Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com |
 | I wouldn't use it to define who I am, but it could be worse! But wasn't Barth quoted as saying I'm not a Barthian?! You scored as Neo orthodox. You are neo-orthodox. You reject the human-centredness and scepticism of liberal theology, but neither do you go to the other extreme and make the Bible the central issue for faith. You believe that Christ is God's most important revelation to humanity, and the Trinity is hugely important in your theology. The Bible is also important because it points us to the revelation of Christ. You are influenced by Karl Barth and P T Forsyth.
What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com |
Go have a crack and see what you come up with.
Hat tip to Alister
I have been away over the last week in Auckland for a Ministry Development Course. I'm still up here until Saturday doing some study in preparation for the worship seminar. At MDC we spent time talking about ministry and especially about where our focus is at in our ministries (John 15 - are we focussed on abiding in Christ or solely getting fruit?). In this light we were given this outstanding quote "are we so busy reaching the 'churched' that we're unchurching the churched?" Well worth pondering when it comes to the depth of the gospel in our churches.
Paul has posted some reflections from his DMin (demon??) research on contemporary Christian music. It is very interesting.
Andehe made the comment that so often our faith is one of being flipped upside down, changing and then integrating new dimensions. When I think of my own faith I'm very aware of how flighty it can be - the process of deconstructing and reconstructing can be very hard. However, I hope that this process is found my desire (through the Spirit) to be rooted in Christ - the truly faithful human who takes my flighty, rocky faith and presents it perfect before the Father. I was given this quote last week from a friend (I think it's from James Torrance): "Prayer and worship are not primarily hard tasks that God sets us; they are gifts that through his Son and in his Spirit he shares with us." I think ultimately this is also true of faith - it is God's gift to us that comes by the Spirit through his Son. Faith is about particiapting in the gift that God shares with us - life in Christ. In the Spirit our flighty, rocky faith is lifted up and presented as holy before the Father through the perfect eternal human faithfulness of Jesus Christ our mediator. Faith then isn't all about 'my faith' but the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.
Why are fire engines red?
A fire Engine has four wheels and eight people on it.
Four and eight are twelve.
Twelve inches are a foot.
A foot is a ruler.
Queen Elizabeth is a ruler.
The "Queen Elizabeth" is the largest ship
to sail the seven seas.
The seas have fish.
The fish have fins.
The Finns fought the Russians.
The Russains are red.
Fire engines are always rushin' around.
And that's why fire engines are red!
This seems to be the sort of logic that allows Dan Brown to make some of the connections he makes in the Da Vinci Code. As Conrad Gempf, New Testament lecturer at London School of Theology, said when asked to comment on The Da Vinci Code 'asking a New Testament lecturer to comment on The Da Vinci Code is like asking a Marine Biologist to comment on Finding Nemo!' However, the flimsiness of Dan Brown's research doesn't seem to stop its popularity and when the church points these things out it only adds fuel to the fire - 'of course you'd say that, you're in on this conspiracy!' Steve Hollinghurst asks what would happen if Dan Brown were to admit that The Da Vinci Code was a joke? Would convinced readers simply drop the book's theories? Or might they wonder what Brown was trying to hide or which organisation forced him to say that? How does the church engage with The Da Vinci Code? We need to be careful that we don't use a sledgehammer to tap in a carpet tack! I think rather than point out the flaws in The Da Vinci Code we need to understand the fertile soil that allows The Da Vinci Code to grow. Why is The Da Vinci Code so popular? Our culture today loves secret knowledge and scandals. It does not like authorities or authority figures e.g. Police, politicians, lawyers or churches. In a world of truthiness it all comes down to opinions and my opinion is the only one I can trust! People today trust their own feelings over against the views of authority figures. We mistrust all claims to truth as a will to power and search for 'the real truth' behind the supposed truth and it leads to all sorts of conspiracy theories and thristings for secret knowledge. The church shouldn't laugh too hard at Why Fire Engines are Red - this sort of thinking isn't limited to The Da Vinci Code. Many interpretations of the Bible resemble this sort of logic (or lack of), especially The Book of Revelation! Perhaps the popularity of Left Behind and The Bible Codes is linked to the popularity of The Da Vinci Code - access to secret knowledge and how no one else has seen this before. It's exciting and entertaining but often the logic is the same as Why Fire Engines are Red. But when people challenge it it only reinforces the scandal that the mainstream church is trying to suppress information or is purposely leading people down the wrong path! The Da Vinci Code has met fertile soil indeed!
Living in Hurricanes territory is hard work for a Blues supporter. I have been trying to keep my mouth shut but I can't help it. A few weeks ago I predicted that the 'Canes had as much chance of winning the Super 14 as the Blues. Well, this has turned to custard and the 'Canes are in the final with the Crusaders this Saturday. It hurts to say it but:
GO THE CRUSADERS!!! PPPPLLLLEEEEAAAAASSSEEEE!!
I mentioned a quote from Friedrich Buechner a couple of weeks ago in a sermon (something like): 'questions and doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it alive and moving.'
I have two recent questions (as well as many others...) that are causing ants in my pants:
1). This one comes from Guy Sayles and his blog at First Day. We often focus on the question of "Do you believe in Jesus?" This is an important question and rests at the heart of the Christian faith. But sometimes we, wrongly, stop at that question, as if saying yes settles all matters of faith and discipleship. There is a second and also very important question to ponder after asking "Do you believe in Jesus?" and it is: "Do you believe what Jesus believed?" Go check out Guy Sayles thoughts on this one here. It's a very important question for followers of Jesus.
2). The second question follows the readings I've been doing for our forthcoming retreat for our worship team. There is a lot of focus on the need for worship to be authentic today. It's been something that I've focussed a lot on. Today I read an article that gave me a kick in the pants. The article is by Graham Redding who is the Minister at St John's in the City, a Presbyterian church in Wellington. In the article he asks "What is authentic worship? Authentic to whom?" Is it most important to be authentic to the people gathered to worship (in which case, who decides if the bar of authenticity has been reached?) or to the Triune God of grace revealed in Jesus Christ? Who is worship directed towards, the people gathered for worship or the Triune God of grace?