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Monthly Archives: October 2004
Tithing and Missing the Point
Yeh I know you gotta give money and a tithe is a good place to start… blah blah blah… but all too often it ends there too. I have actually been quite proud at times that I have simply tithed – woo hoo!
Now that’s gotta be healthy…
I have mentioned several times on here that I don’t see tithing as a practice we should embrace in our churches – and I thoroughly believe that.
It was Stuart Murray Williams excellent book that significantly reframed my view on this. You can read a review of the book here, by Graham Old
, but if you’re serious about exploring what we ought to do with money then do yourself and your church a favour and read the whole book.
A Vicarious Spirituality?…
I don’t talk to many people at all who are content in their spirituality.
I don’t talk to many who say they are enjoying their relationship with God and feeling good about it.
It seems we are in constant struggle to grow and develop our own spirituality. Perhaps that’s why we are attracted to apparently successful images of church. (I say ‘apparent, because some genuinely are ‘successful’ and others are apparent).
By being part of a happening church, where the worship is intense and the preaching is powerful I can feel like I am in a healthy place. I can feel like I am powerful, victorious go ahead type of Christian. I think there are many who do actually develop vicarious spirituality – where their own faith is lived through the vibe of the church or the charisma of the leader.
That’s a scary place to be, because all you have to do is ask the ‘what if?’ questions.
What if the church splits?
What if the preacher leaves?
What if you get a new job in another city?
More to the point…
What if you wake up one day and discover your spirituality is a thin veneer covering a vacuous empty space? What if you were to face reality and say that there is no ‘me and God’ there is only ‘me and church’ and thru this I meet God?…
What if you have been faking it?
I am all for inspiration, all for creating a vibe that engages people, but I am concerned that there are many people living off the fumes of a ‘rockin church’. I am concerned that people have outsourced their own spiritual development to a pastor or a ‘church’.
Yes – we do this stuff in community, but if we don’t do our own bit in private then we actually abuse the community by being always takers rather than givers.
Part of my real concern for the church is that we grow disciples who aren’t dependent on a weekly church fix to pump them up, but who are solidly earthed in their own identity in Christ.
Sometimes our own structures tap into the dark places in our hearts and work against this end…
I Can Still Get Up…
Today was my first surf since turning 40 back in May.
The weather is turning – the warmer days are coming and today was the start of it.
Sephto and I made the trip up to the Alkimos in search of waves. Sadly we only got there 30 mins before the sea breeze but it was long enough to be able to clamber to my feet and get a few rides in.
When the breeze came in we headed back to the boat for some fishing. We caught some weird looking fish – kind of a mutant herring… Herring look but with yellow tails and black dots… I dunno… I’ve only been fishing for a year.
I decided to eat em anyway and had them for lunch!
They must have been ok cause I’m still alive…gangs of new york dvdrip
Exorcising John Saffran…
I have been trying to follow ‘John Saffran v God’ on SBS. Sadly the badlands of the pentecostal fringe were the focus tonight.
Saffran went thru an ‘exorcism’ of sorts, but it seemed he was faking it – and no one knew… He had supposedly engaged in every kind of spiritual practice and these needed renouncing/cleansing etc.
Tonight’s episode was bizzarre. Did anyone else see it? Any thoughts?
Wild at Heart?
After seeing it plugged by so many people I have finally given in and started reading ‘Wild at Heart’. I’m a couple of chapters in and so far its ringing lots of bells.
I love his idea of blokes being about adventure, exploring and living heroically – seeking to be ‘dangerous men rather than nice men’.
Here’s the description of the book from Amazon:
God designed men to be dangerous, says John Eldredge. Simply look at the dreams and desires written in the heart of every boy: To be a hero, to be a warrior, to live a life of adventure and risk. Sadly, most men abandon those dreams and desires–aided by a Christianity that feels like nothing more than pressure to be a nice guy. It is no wonder that many men avoid church, and those who go are often passive and bored to death. In this provocative book, Eldredge gives women a look inside the true heart of a man and gives men permission to be what God designed them to be–dangerous, passionate, alive, and free
It seems its not only Frosty and Hirsch who are speaking about some kind of masculine spirituality. Perhaps there is a thread running thru conversations at present that is very significant and in need of our attention.
What’s it mean to be a fully alive, godly bloke?…
Eldredge seems to have a great concept of who Jesus is and for me that’s a key place to start.
How To Dampen the Occasion…
I Sure Hope He Showed Up…
Its been a busy weekend with a wedding yesterday, followed by a party and then a church service to preach at today.
If you’ve done any preaching you’d know there are days when you are pretty much solely reliant on the power of God. If he doesn’t show up then its gonna be a pretty dreary old day… Now I know that’s supposed to be the case all the time, but let’s be real – its not!
Today was one of those occasions. I was preaching on the passage in Luke where Jesus calls Levi, one of my all time favourites, but I just didn’t have anything fire for me throughout the week. Normally I sense God leading me in a direction very clearly and giving some passion for the message.
This week I must have read that passage 100 times, made 15 pages of notes, but just couldn’t seem to ignite.
I was actually a bit worried this morning when I turned up with a bunch of notes and a few different directions to head in depending on what gelled on the day.
I discovered before the service that two of my stories I had used previously at this church, so I ditched them, I had a story about a particular racial group, but it was a sensitive story and given that a family from that particular African country just happened to be in church that day, I felt I should ditch it as well. The pastor used another story on the front of the church bulletin… It was looking grim!
I don’t think its bad to feel confident when you communicate in public, but this was one of those times when my personal confidence was fairly screwed!
The prayers from me were ‘God – if today hits anyone it will really be down to you…’. At the same time as I felt nervous, I felt a degree of calm because over the years I have been amazed at what God does with what I would regard as garbage preaching.
Anyway – either the people were just being polite or he did speak to some because the feedback seemed genuinely positive.
Its never nice being forced to depend on God. Learning that line between my endeavour and his power is always a tension.
Hat’s Off
A good mate who I have done yoyth work with for a number of years recenlty returned to his local church after a spell of not attending anywhere.
While sitting in his pew waiting for the service to start he was accosted by a man who said to him ‘beanys off halos on’ in reference to the hat he was wearing.
Now why was it he didn’t seem to like churches much?…
La la la
As a result of some of the Poms responses to Al and Frosty, Gaz has posted some questions about blokey worship and the place of singing in our gatherings.
Its worth a read.