Why Anglicans Don't Do Full Immersion...

Coming from a baptist background myself, I can appreciate the humour in this...

Happy Incarnation

Today I feel so spoilt that I am a minister. I mean, I get paid to study the Bible and tell others about Jesus. This morning I spent preparing my Christmas sermon- I’ve settled on Philippians 2- one of my favourite passages in the Bible. That afternoon I went and visited one of the elderly saints from church who is in hospital (and probably will be for Christmas). She is such an encouragement. I shared my Christmas message with her, and she said ‘I’ve always marveled at that hymn O Worship the King…there is a line that goes:

Thy mercies how tender! how firm to the end! Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.'

She went on: ‘Why would he want to be our friend, when we are so vile? But he became one of us and identifies with us!’

Truly an amazing thought.

Small Village Churches

Lately I've been thinking that the mega church is not the way to reach the suburbs, but the small country church that meets in the local community centre has a lot going for it. My church continues to encourage me. It was my first Sunday back from holidays. One of the ladies at church wanted to chat. She asked me what had I been encouraged about lately in my Christian life? I answered 'contentment'. She said she was thinking about that too. I told her I'm planning on reading a sermon on Spurgeon's on it to help me think about it (so stay tuned). All this at 8am this morning! It was an intense conversation, but well worth it!

Then at the 10am family service we had a new family, and some of the local kids came as well fopr the first time. During the prayer time, the new guy asked us to pray for his Nan, who is dying. He also has family that live behind our church, so it would be exciting if they came! (I used to despise transfer growth until I realised that new people often bring unsaved people with them to church). Later that night, after evening church and after a long jog with my dog, I went shopping at Woolies. I ran into the new guy who was at church (still all red and sweaty from my jog). We chatted for a bit in the vege section about his Nan who was dying. Its great being part of a community of believers where we can build each other up outside of church meetings. That's the way it should be. Plant village churches in the suburbs- they're awesome!

Small village churches are intimate and caring. Even though we want to grow in size, I pray we will remain caring and intimate.

Stem Cell Bill Passed

As the souls of endless humans cry out
Who were never given the chance to live
Or the opportunity to reach their full potential
The investigator delights in the potential of his findings.
Their life is created, only to be snuffed out
In order to save another
As though that made it right.
Such mindless brutality…
If the roles were reversed
And the power lay in the hands of the powerless
Then would they understand
The senseless extermination?

As the souls of endless humans cry out
The God of the orphan and widow is grieved
Because of the barbarity.
Ways of doing evil have been invented
And the powerful are handed over
To lavish in their wickedness.
The powerful will only think of their own mortality
And will use whatever means it takes
To control their diseases
And ease their pain
Even if it means the murder of the innocent and helpless.
But all they do is prolong their final destiny.

Good Times in Cairns

OK, so here are some of the highlights from my week here in Cairns....

-Swimming in the Redlinch Cascades.
-Reading Saturday's SMH on Palm Cove Beach.
-Reading 'The Minister's Fainting Fits' by Spurgeon (Lectures to my Students- look for it on the web- an excellent essay on the vulnerability of the minister to depression and its benefits...)
-Catching pufferfish at the wharf.
-Day-dreaming about preaching the gospel in the future (wherever that may be!) and being used by God for His glory.
-Swimming in the pool at the resort at Chris's place (and meeting some people from Moore in the same pool!)
-Being challenged to think (from Chris) that every time I preach, God is speaking through me.
-Getting the smallest meal on record at dinner tonight (why is quality never proportionate to quantity?)
-Reading The Commonwealth of Thieves (Tom Keneally) and appreciating our convict heritage and loving our history...
-Chris nearly getting a stomach bug from the waitress who admitted she had been puking all day and could bearly stand up to serve us...
-The same waitress left a shift early so we could bearly get our meal...
-Sharing the gospel with Mad-Mike the Yugoslavian piano player at the same restaurant.
-Jogging by the beach in Palm Cove.
-Getting training advice from Chris (who just happens to be a tennis coach with ample advice on much needed core strength).
-Going to an Independant Baptist Church (well that's the plan for tomorrow...Chris and I are both looking forward to revisiting our church heritage!)
-Flying home to Sydney on Monday and preaching on 2 Peter 3 on Sunday (my next sermon...how exciting- to speak about the end of the world and calling on people to repent! Please pray.)
-Feeling refreshed to preach over the Christmas Season.
-Abi- abi- abi...that's all folks!

Comics and Clothing

I prefer reading DC comics but I like wearing Marvel clothing. I know, I'm weird. The meaningless things we think about when we are on holidays!