The Pain of Knowing God

1. I asked the Lord, that I might grow,
In faith, and love, and ev’ry grace;
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek more earnestly His face.

2. ’Twas He who taught me thus to pray,
And He, I trust, has answered prayer;
But it has been in such a way
As almost drove me to despair.

3. I hoped that in some favoured hour,
At once He’d answer my request,
And by His love’s constraining power
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

4. Instead of this, He made me feel
The hidden evils of the heart;
And let the angry powers of hell
Assault my soul in ev’ry part.

5. Yea, more, with His own hand He seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe;
Crossed all the fair designs I’d schemed,
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

6. ‘Lord, why is this?’ I trembling cried,
‘Wilt Thou pursue Thy worm to death?’
‘’Tis in this way,’ the Lord replied,
‘I answer prayer for grace and faith.

7. ‘These inward trials I employ,
From self and pride to set thee free;
And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou may’st seek thy all in Me.’

John Newton, 1725–1807

Heaven- Working the Crowd Eternally

My mate Jimbo has been in love with a girl- Viv- for years and years. Well, she finally accepted (wore down? gave in?) Jimbo's advances. And today they were announced to be husband and wife....and I had the joy of attending their wedding.

What struck me about the day was there were so many people from my church past who were there- people I'd laughed and cried with, people who had lost babies, people who I've seen married and have kids (well, I wasn't in the delivery room if that's what you were thinking!), people I've planted churches with, people who I've seen fly overseas to be missionaries, people I've been in Bible study groups with, people I've been on church staff with, people I've prayed with and prayed for, people I've studied at Uni with, people I've seen come to the Lord and...the list just goes on and on.

More than one person commented to me 'this is what heaven will be like'. It sure did feel that way. Time stood still. We picked up relationships where they left off. I 'worked the crowd', catching up with as many people as possible.

And I'm sure the new heavens and new earth will be an eternal opportunity to 'work the crowd'.

I can't wait. Until then there is work to be done. Like tomorrow's preaching on the resurrection body. What a great joy to tell everyone about this! (And that's exactly what I plan on telling people!)

To Booze or not to Booze...

I was in big trouble on Sunday- one of my parishioners complained that the Communion wine was alcoholic.

Whenever we have communion at church, I try to make sure that we have grape juice, and not port, sherry or wine. You never know if there are recovering alcoholics in the congregation who may get a whiff of the stuff and want to get back on the sauce. And you don’t know who is going to be offended. So I insist on grape juice (must be my strong Baptist heritage- thanks Mum and Dad!)

In my church however, there is a couple who are constantly offended that we use grape juice. So instead, we give them a seperate cup of port, but everyone else gets grape juice.

On this particular Sunday, since we had run out of grape juice, there was no other option but to use the port. I didn’t know at the time we had run out. Imagine my surprise when I took a cup and gulped it all down! Man, did that put hairs on my chest that morning!!!

Afterwards, a lady came up to me the following week and told me that she had taken a vow before the Lord that alcohol would never ever pass her lips again. D'oh!!!

So this Sunday, its back to the grape juice. The things a minister has to deal with…*sighs*

Ridiculous Grace

I met a guy at a house warming party who used to come to my church when he was a teenager. He was telling me how he wandered away from the Lord, but now he was back. He said 'the grace of God is ridiculous'.

The grace of God is ridiculous. I love that description. Calvin said irresistible grace. I'm going for ridiculous grace.

I mean, grace is what we are constantly learning. Grace teaches us how to forgive, how to give, how to live. Grace that changes our hearts. Grace that means that everytime we fall flat on our face, or stray or stumble, the grace of God is always there to restore us. Grace that means its not by our own efforts. Grace that means that a squeaky clean track record means diddly squat, for we are all on equal footing at the foot of the cross. Grace takes away the Pharisee's pride of clean living. But by the costly grace of God, go I.

Grace- amazing, irresistible, costly, rich and free. I'm going to throw around ridiculous.

Ridiculous grace. Isn't it?

Bondi & Recovering Humility

I had an awesome day today with my cousin Clare, who has just moved to Bondi. It was good to explore some cafes while we read the paper, sit on the beach and draw, and then have dinner. Bondi became my new favourite place today- the packed cafes and restuarants, the smell of coffee and pizza, the laid-back atmosphere, the buzz about the streets- everyone just loves being there. We ended the day at Boarders at Bondi Junction, reading magazines and sipping coffee.

Whilst browsing through the magazines at Borders, I came across an issue of Quadrant, an Australian commentary on society and culture. Tom Frame (Anglican Bishop to the Australian Defence Force) has written a fantastic piece called Humility: The Depised Virtue? It sparked my interested because of my own reading and understanding on humility lately. The article basically looks at how humility is such a foreign virtue in our society. But yet so important because it affects the way that we see the world, how we treat people, and conduct public debate (like national apologies by governments for the misdeeds of the past).

The article is not available online, but some articles from back issues are available here.

Happy Resurrection!!!

Phew...I made it.

Don't get me wrong, I love Easter, and love sharing the Easter message. But its a crazy time for us ministers because of so much preaching and organisation of services that need to take place. While this is a great privilege, its also going to be nice to just chill out now that Easter is over!

Some highlights over the last few days :
Receiving TWO home made lots of Rocky Road from a woman in my congregation who wondered if I was allergic to nuts...so she made TWO lots- one without nuts and one with! (in dark chocolate too might I add cos I love dark chocolate the most- yum!)

Going to a bucks night where my mate Jimbo got dressed as a Raider when he is really an Eels supporter...it was to an Eels vs Raider game (I hope he didn't get bashed...I'll find out next week at the wedding!)

Doing kid's talks where I am popping balloons in church and one of the kids took off cos he was so scared...

In sermon tonight, saying 'the tomb was rolled away...' Not the worst slip-up in a sermon I have made.

Getting addicted by the on-line community of facebook. Check it out! And make me your friend if you join!

Being challenged by my own study of 1 Cor 15...Jesus is the man who has defeated death. He brings order to God's universe and rules the way we were supposed to. So make him your ruler!

Can't wait to just chill out with my cuz in Bondi tomorrow... fun times.