V-Day

Happy V-day everyone. Today, one of my friends SMSed me to tell me this:

On Feb 14, 269AD, St. Valentine was martyred for not denying his faith in Christ! A good day to celebrate his faithfulness and courage!

Well, that’s as good as any reason to celebrate!

I will leave you with this picture. When I was at Bible college, some of the Uni students broke into my room and ‘girlified’ my room. They vacuumed and dusted the room, sprayed perfume everywhere, decorated it with glitter and flowers (all through my drawers, might I add), and left notes from a mysterious woman called ‘Hotlips’ who was apparently madly in love with me. Here is what they did to my mirror:

Its nice to have an admirer...even if its all in jest.

And thanks Chris for a great V-Day party!

New Ministries in 2007

Men’s convention, evangelistic dinner, young adults Bible study group, several other new Bible study groups, church camp, men’s breakfasts, revamped youth service, a new puppet theatre in the works, Cedarville singers, a 3 month training /mentoring with an American friend…these are just some of the new and exciting ventures and activities that are happening in our church in the weeks ahead and during the year! Did I miss anything?

Love Thy Neighbour...Share the Gospel with them!

On Saturday I was at a church planting conference. The speaker, Martin Robinson was sharing how he met some new non-Christian friends. Basically he decided to invited his neighbours, 10 doors on either side of him, over for a meal. What a great idea- in today's individualised society and isolated suburb that we live in it seems so foreign to do this! But its so essential if we are going to build bridges to people for the sake of the gospel. One woman piped up during the discussion and said that their church had set aside a weekend to spend getting to know their neighbours. I was quite inspired by their initiative!

These 2 testimonies stood out for me because I had said a week earlier to my congregations to spend time getting to know your neighbours. In my suburb, you'd be lucky to know your neighbour's name. It challenged me to make the next step and invite them over for a meal or a BBQ, or spend more time getting to know not just the people on either side, but further on down the road.

In other news, today we had our church's commencement service. I made one of the kid's cry during the puppet show when the monkey wouldn't come back to life...OK, so you had to be there to understand...and we farewelled JT. Fare thee well buddy!

Game on: Euthanasia

It seems as though euthanasia is back on the agenda in public debate. A private member's Bill is being introduced by the Green's Senator, and if the passing of the stem cell research Bill is anything to go by, Christians need to stand up and speak out against this.

I decided to send a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald this morning. I've never had a letter published, but even if its not, it gives the Herald a sample of the public's view on such matters. Especially when they report that most of the letters they have received on the matter are in favour of voluntary euthanasia.

For what it's worth, here's my letter:

Dear Editor,

I heartily agree with Dr Frith (letters Jan 30) that it is a terrible thing to watch a loved one die. I heartily disagree that euthanasia is the answer. How dare we say that because we find it hard to watch people die that an assisted death is the answer!

Giving people the option of euthanasia will cause them to think they are burdens to us. Dying with dignity means giving people a sense of love and respect when they die. And not making them think they are a burden to be snuffed out.

This ultimately sends the message that we think that people are expendable. And this will cause the dying to think of themselves as having already expired before their use-by date. Telling people that they are better off dead is not the answer. Ironically, this actually reduces autonomy rather than gives people autonomy.

What do you think?

When Flowing Silk Meets ‘Fully Sick Mate!’

This Australia Day I was at a friend’s wedding. The ceremony was quite moving and joyous. It was quite evident that the couple were so happy to be together. What made it even more special was that the groom is Lebanese and the bride is Chinese. The preacher got good mileage out of this fact as well. He said ‘What do you get when Lebanese meets Chinese? When East meets Middle East? When flowing silk meets ‘fully sick mate!’

Perhaps one of the more moving parts of the ceremony was when the couple read portions of Song of Songs to each other. Here is a portion of what he read to her on bended knee:

‘You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you. Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; come with me from Lebanon. Depart from the peak of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards.’ (Song of Solomon 4:7-8)

In return, her reading to him included this:

‘His legs are alabaster columns, set on bases of gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars.’ (Song of Solomon 5:15)

Fully sick mate!

Congrats Rod and Bec!

For those who came in late...

A Morning in the Library

I love Januarys…things are a bit slower, there is space to think and plan, weather is awesome (hot I know- smokey air at the moment from the fires, but as I type, much needed rain falls). All point to the fact that summer is well and truly here.

I decided to try and get ahead in my sermon work today. I love going to the local library with my lap top, studying the Bible and trying to think deeply about this week’s passage. No phone calls to interrupt me, no emails. Pure escape. I also enjoy the fact that people are anonymously around me while I work, and I can listen to the babble of kids trying to find a fun holiday book, and mothers trying to keep control over them while I get down to some serious exegesis.

While I was sitting there, an elderly chap saw that I had my Bible open and asked me, ‘doing some research?’
‘Yeah’, I said. ‘I’m writing a sermon’.
He looked a little surprised at me. ‘Oh! Which church?’
I told him which church I was from.
‘Well, you might see me there sometime, you never know. What time is your church on?’
I not only told him what time church was on, but I (casually) gave him one of my cards with all the church details on it.

That made my day.

Too Much Mercy?

As I wind down tonight and get ready for another Sunday, I'm struck by the words of Spurgeon on contentment:

'When men have too much of God's mercies—strange that we should have to say this, and yet it is a great fact—when men have much of God's providential mercies, it often happens that they have but little of God's grace, and little gratitude for the bounties they have received. They are full, and they forget God; satisfied with earth, they are content to do without heaven.'

Great point. Often when God richly blesses us with material happiness, we forget him. We end up serving the great circumstances that we find ourselves in, rather than serve the God who gave us those circumstances. But in a world where our desires are left yearning for something more, we cry out for our full of grace.

May we never forget God in our satisfaction.

Reliance in its Entirety

I’ve been hit lately with our total reliance upon the Father. Everything I am, everything I have, owes its existence to the Father. And I am in utter and total reliance upon Him for every part of my life- my dreams, my hopes, my desires. I don’t know if you have ever cried before our Father in your hour of need, but its comforting to know that He is our source of strength. He is our reason for existing, and the reason we continue to exist. Truly a humbling thought.

But why does my sinful heart keep deceiving me into thinking that I can do things in my own strength without total reliance upon the Father? Why do I keep thinking that I’m so great?

In his book simply called Humility, Andrew Murray says: ‘Man’s chief care, his highest virtue, and his only happiness, now and through all eternity, is to present himself as an empty vessel in which God can dwell and manifest His power and goodness.’

‘Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is from the very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of man. It is the root of every virtue.’

I must admit, the times when I feel most content and joyous is when I have felt like I have been an instrument in the hands of the Creator. And when I’m proud within myself, I feel most discontent. Is the secret of contentment? Is this what Paul means when he says ‘I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me?’ I think Murray is onto something there!

I’ll leave you with some verses I’ve been reflecting on lately which describe the fact of our total dependence upon God for our existence.

1 Chronicles 29:11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.

Psalm 104:27 These all look to you, to give them their food in due season.

Nehemiah 9:6 "You are the LORD, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.

Romans 11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 8:6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Revelation 4:11 "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."

Lord, make me your empty vessel…(quite a scarey prayer when you think about it!)

Egg Cream- where have you been all my life??

Thanks to the West Wing, I’ve recently discovered Egg cream. And being so hot here, its such a nice way to cool off in the afternoon...

Its a drink that New Yorkers drink. It has neither egg nor cream in it, but consists of:-
-Soda water
-Milk
-your best chocolate syrup… (thankfully, I was given heaps of this for Christmas!)

Mix those all together and voila! Your very own egg cream drink, courtesy of NYC. And as President Bartlet says, "I'm drinking the most fantastic thing I've ever tasted in my life! Chocolate syrup, cold milk, and seltzer. I know it sounds terrible, but trust me, I don't know where this has been all my life!"

Just curious- if any of my American friends still read this, do you actually make this? Or am I just overly Americanized??? (and isn’t that Americanised in America???)

In my mind, this is part of the fun of cooking. Its knowing what goes together and doesn't. Knowing that tomato and basil are partners, but tomato and ice cream just won't do it (although I did try this once as a kid). And then there are the experimental cooks who discover that orange and chocolate work well together to make jaffa; soda water, milk and chocolate syrup all work together to make a yummy drink!

PS I now have a blender. Mango and banana smoothies for breaky!

2 Funerals and 3 sermons later

Well, its been a heck of a week. Awesome teaching at Summer School which made me again reflect that discipleship is costly. There is no point in following Jesus if you aren't willing to make sacrifices. Jesus didn't call us to live comfy, fluffy lives...he calls us to take up our cross and follow him.

Perhaps for me these words were reinforced by the reality of death. One speaker even said (even though I didn't hear this talk) "ministry is all about preparing people for death".

You see, I took 2 funerals this week- one on Monday (my first funeral, since starting out in paid ministry), and another on Thursday (which involved a double burial). I would have had to do a third one, but I asked one of our retired ministers to take it.

Funerals take a lot of emotional energy. Its certainly not one of the joys of ministry! I never met the people that I buried. But I still felt a deep sense of loss for their families. Funerals remind me how much I hate death. I hate how death robs me of relationships with people I love. Death leaves me thinking I wish I could speak to that person again. Death reminds me how broken our world is. And yet again, I'm reminded at how unnatural death is even though our world accepts it as normal. Death causes me to long for the new heavens and new earth, the home of righteousness, where death will have finally lost its sting. Maranatha!!!

But we aren't in the home of righteousness yet. Death is alive in our world. I remember taking the first funeral and thinking 'what possible hope can I possibly give to these people? How hopeless!!' But hope is not mine to give. Only Christ can give hope. All I can do is explain what he has said about life and death.

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." (John 11:25-26)

"I AM the resurrection and the life!" By the end of the week, I had preached 3X on this great passage (including Sunday night's sermon). And each time I was excited that even though death is alive in our world, Jesus Christ has returned from the grave. Resurrection is not a thing. Resurrection is a person. There is hope for us all! And when you are dead, its too late to hear this!

I do hate death. With a passion. But I'm glad that One before me has faced all the hell and horrors of death so that I don't have to. And this message of the resurrection is worth leaving families and countries, crossing cultures, learning languages, and even dying for, just so people can hear it.

Hallelujah!

I led the singing in church tonight. I can’t sing but hey I’m versatile.
The miracle of the night was that people were still there by the end of the service…
PS- That's not me.

Happy 36th Anniversary Mum and Dad!!

Can I just say how thankful I am to God for my parents. I happen to think I have the nicest parents in the world. I couldn't have been given better parents if I picked them myself. But then again, I'm biased.

Tonight was their 36th wedding anniversary. I went out to dinner with them tonight to celebrate. In my adult years, I have grown closer to my parents, and grown to enjoy them as friends. I enjoy our conversations and shared memories that we have. Where I have been, they have been. They understand more than anyone the experiences I have had in life because they have shared them with me.

I hope that if I get married someday, that my marriage will be like theirs. What I mean is, I pray I will have the strength to be gracious and forgiving when I'm married, just like they are with each other. I used to think that once I am married things would be perfect. Well I've learnt my lesson. I've learnt a lot from my parent's marriage. Its not perfect. Sure they are different. Sure they have their fights. Sure they don't always see eye to eye. But they are forever patient with one another, forever enduring, forever forgiving. (Newsflash- isn't that the Bible's description of love? ala 1 Cor 13...) Surely this is what marriage is all about.

But at the heart of their marriage is faithfulness. There is no fear in their relationship because it is based on trust. It is secure. It is for life.

Here is a quote from Christopher Ash's book (Marriage: Sex in the Service of God) which I think reflects my parent's marriage (and is in my humble opinion THE book to read on marriage):

'Marriage [...] means being forgiving and patient and showing forbearance towards the other when they fail to give us what is promised or implied in marriage. Marriage is both an obligation and a grace, giving and forgiving.' (Ash, 2003, p365).

The grace of marriage...Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad!

Spider-Man 3 Trailer

How cool is this movie going to be...

Happy New Year 2007!

JT and I caught the train into the city to join a party inside a friend's city apartment. Level 24 did not disappoint us. We had spectacular views of the harbour and had a front row seat to the fireworks display which lasted about 15 minutes. For a split second I found myself secretly wondering about the effects of these pryotechnic displays upon the environment, and the amount of hungry mouths that could have been fed by the cost incurred. Call me superficial but these thoughts only lasted a moment...the atmosphere was just too electrifying! The image on the bridge which appeared after the display was a giant red coat-hanger. Personally, I was a little disappointed that the Herald had published a picture of the coat hanger in Saturday's paper, so that it was not a surprise to me.

The highlight of the night was experiencing the building's emergency evacuation system. One wonders if an impatient host somewhere in the building wanted his New years' guests to leave quickly on the stroke of midnight, or if some drunken slob just thought it would be the funniest joke of the year to date.

Its great living in Sydney where you have mixed in certain circles for many years, and friends show up that you haven't seen in a while, and new acquaintances may be made. The celebrations continue tonight at a friend's house. May this New Year bring more opportunities to build yourself in your holy faith, grow in your love for God, and abound in your knowledge of Him.

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!