Public Shaming

Ok – I had to go public with this news…

Andrew Broadbent, my friend and fellow driver of old beaten up cars has sold his HZ Kingswood and (and his soul) and is now driving a VOLVO!!!

Shame on you Broady! Shame on you!

A public flogging ought to be in order, but I will simply ask that in its place you post offensive and deprecatory Volvo jokes in the comments section so that he will feel suitably chastised and maybe reconsider the folly of his ways. (I have left one there to get you started)

By the way, I have decided to keep the Landy and fix her up a bit (not a lot) and hopefully get another 18 momths or 2 years out of her before taking Steve’s advice and driving her off Blackwall Reach on a Sunday afternoon.

What The?…

What are the chance of you going picking up the white pages and randomly ringing someone for a chat?…

Slim? Non existent? Like, you wouldn’t even dream free hard corps the movie download of doing something like that?

Yeh – I thought so!

Last night as I was reading a few blogs my skype phone rang. It was someone I didn’t know, so I rejected the call… But concerned that it may have been a friend with a nickname I didn’t recognise, I started a chat that went like this:

Me: Do I know you?

Caller: No

Me: Why are you calling me?

Caller: I’m bored

Me: (mystified) I’m not…

End of conversation

Is this what we can expect as ‘skype’ spreads? Complete strangers with nothing to do lobbing into our lounge room at 10pm at night because I happen to be online and they are bored?…

Feels very weird to me!

Getaway!

This weekend I am off to join a group of 30 ‘older’ young singles as they go on a camp/retreat. The weekend is the dream of Kath & Sarah who have managed to pull it together and captured the imagination of young adults from all around the city.

In most of our churches those who are 25+ and not married can often find it difficult to make good connections and may even struggle with some loneliness. When most people are pairing off and having kids, to be ‘a single’ can be difficult.

My role is to be the person who provides some input on the ‘spiritual’ side of things, which for me is going to translate to doing some spiritual formation activities with them and helping them to reflect on their own journey with Jesus, how its going and where they are at.

I’ve called it ‘Stumbling Towards Jesus’, because so much of what we do is a ‘stumble’ and yet if we are heading in the right direction then the pace or way in which we get there is less of a concern.puffy chair the divx

Sub-urban mission challenges

Here’s a great post from the Christianity Today blogsite entitled The Brutal ‘Burbs: how the suburban lifestyle undermines our mission, about the challenges of living in the burbs and genuinely connecting with people.

I think a lot of people see the burbs as the ‘easy’ option for church and mission, but while people may be happy to bring their kids to church for a bit of religion and might like a pleasant Sunday morning with other (apparently) nice people, actually arcing up authentic discipleship is another matter altogether.

Here’s the lead in:

A surge of new books have hit store shelves about the challenges facing followers of Christ who live in the suburbs. Many voices are beginning to say that the lifestyle of the affluent suburbanite, while heralded for 50 years as the fulfillment of the American dream, may actually be detrimental to the Christian life and mission. In this post David Fitch, a pastor and professor in suburban Chicago, and a regular contributor to Out of Ur, addresses the difficulty of practicing the biblical discipline of hospitality in the isolation of the ‘burbs.

Hmmm… how could it be that the ‘American Dream’ or the Oz dream for that matter hasn’t delivered?… It should have worked…

One month makes all the difference

Last month while I was on the SU National Conference I managed to strain my right shoulder while swimming – pretty frustrating because I had been swimming in the ocean daily for three months and was really enjoying it. With my right knee now completely stuffed swimming is about the only decent form of exercise left.

After a month of anti-inflamatories and complete rest I ventured back into the water this morning. 9.00am at Quinns Beach was beautiful… but bloody cold!

The very first thing I noticed was the crack of the ocean across my head like a liquid iceberg. Hello… its definitely not summer any more… The coldness stayed with me for over two minutes making me wonder if swimming over winter (as I hope) is really such a good idea…

But after a brisk 1/2 km with no nasty tendonitis symptoms I hopped out and sat on the beach for another 30 or 40 mins just enjoying being there. Sometimes I think that is why I swim more than for the exercise…

Hopefully I’ll be able to keep swimming but the weather might well have a say in that…

Peter

I love this bloke – so full of courage – so full of humanity.

One minute he is ready to take on a squad of Roman guards and even chops off one their ears in his attempt to defend Jesus. Then so soon after he denies he even knows him.

Smile – Its Good Friday

This is great.

I find myself caught in two minds every Good Friday. Part of me wants to go and join with other Christians to remember the significance of the day. But all too often I come away frustrated and feeling ripped off because we have missed the pain of the day and tried to help each other feel better about it.

Or we have done the ‘service’ and then come out and drank coffee and eaten hot cross buns like nothing has happened.

Today I just read the story again on my own and then tonight we will be watching The Passion with our community.

Its not a party night – its not a movie you eat popcorn to and laugh about afterwards, but maybe that’s the point.

We need to feel the reality of the day – the darkness rather than the light. Yes, the light comes and there is much good in the cross – but I don’t think anyone was thinking like that 200 years ago.

Afraid of the dark?

One of the things Neil Cole said last week that I deeply resonated with was that ‘most Christians don’t believe that light is more powerful than darkness’ or words to that effect otherwise it would show up in the way we live.

I have seen people stay away from ‘dark places’ and ‘dark people’ out of fear.

Fear of what?…

Why do we talk so tough and live so weak?

Statement of Faith

I was chatting today with Brad, one of our interns from the Seventh Day Adventist church. They have just completed a serious 4 day church plant training camp with 30 key leaders.

During the experience he was speaking with an aboriginal church planter who told him that when it comes to statements of faith, they use stories rather than statements.

So rather than saying ‘We believe God is the creator’, they tell the creation story. The exodus is a deliverance / salvation story. I found this a really interesting way to do things and very ‘un-evangelical’. I liked it…

It got me thinking, what stories would we include and which would we leave out?