They will grow as you expect.

A couple of weeks ago I had a great conversation with a mum whose son was involved in the Volleyball program. The conversation was along the line of thank you for treating my son like a man.

I was not really sure how to take this comment, but I liked it. It also got me wondering what I was supposed to treat him like? If I treated him like a child I would be completely undervaluing his ability to act with forethought and maturity.

Athletes and young people in general, I believe, will become what you expect them to become. If you expect your athlete to make errors, blame other players, act like a idiot, they will do exactly that.

If you believe your athletes, students or children will trust their instincts, play aggressively and take responsibility for their actions they will do that.

Your athlete will become what you expect them to become.

Amen.

04/04/2011 0

Life doesn’t move in straight lines

The idea that we have a life mapped out for us that will always make sense does not resonate with me at all. If that was so, life would be pretty boring. This last month has thrown my carefully laid plans into chaos! But gee is it exciting!

I was talking to some recently finished year 12 students yesterday and the discussion turned to what it meant for them to miss out on the top uni course they applied for. Well, the way I see it, that just means there are more options. One particular student is the kind of person who, regardless of what she chooses to do, will change lives for the better. Don’t get me wrong, I believe everybody has the power to change the world for good, but this particular person has that ability in bucket loads!

This person is the member of a group that will stand up when things go wrong, she will listen and seek help when needed and she makes everyone she comes in contact with feel special. It is a wonderful gift to have. However, that incredible gift will not show up on ENTER scores, won’t be taken into account when applying for university and will rarely be given the value it deserves by people who look a profit lines and measurable outcomes.

My prayer for this student is as she leaves the relative safety of school and enters university and the workforce, that she does not lose her natural ability to care, that she can maintain her integrity and regardless of where she is she embraces her ability to change peoples lives.

It has been a blessing to journey with this student and watch her grow into the amazing person she is.

If you think this post is a bit “over the top”, ask yourself how many people you know with this ability, then ask yourself if they get the recognition they deserve. Then ask yourself what you are going to do about it.

15/12/2010 0

It is a happy pain……

Heading to a conference tomorrow. It is a “Dreaming Day” for the future of Churches of Christ.

It has been three years since the last time we got together to discuss anything, anything at all, let alone what we dream to be.

This realization has motivated me to reflect on what my dreams are for what I am doing. As a result there have been some strange thoughts running through my head. As a result, I hope the following makes sense.

My mission, my motivation, for what I do, comes from a deep sense of love that I have experienced. A love that has been so profound that I can only call it ‘of God’. It has arrived at many moments, from many places, some expected and some unexpected but all have shaped me into the person that I am today. I have found that the only way I can express a response to this experience of love is through Christianity, trying to make sense of this experience using a history of people’s experiences of God as a way of finding myself in the story of my own life.

This does not mean that other expressions of faith, religion or even expressions of Christianity are any more or less right than my expression. This does not mean that my expression cannot inform or challenge other expressions, or that my expression cannot be confronted and changed by other expressions. I don’t think anybody has the complete handle on what life is supposed to look like, or how God is found in the midst of it.

All that said, 5 years at Ormond Church of Christ has at times be an experience that has left me feeling more removed from my own ‘denomination’, my theology doesn’t seem to fit, my personality doesn’t seem to fit and my vision for what the Church could look like seems like a foreign concept. The thing that I love/hate the most is that the very theology and expression, and investigation of that theology, that seems to put me outside of the Churches of Christ circle, is found to be completely relevant and easily communicated to those outside of the church.

The things that cause me to feel loneliness and isolation, out stepped-ness within my own denomination, are exactly what I find the non-church community responding to.

It is a wonderfully painful place to be sometimes. I can only imagine how many other ministers and ex-ministers feel exactly the same.

30/09/2010 0

The demon possessed man

Luke 8:26-39 (New International Version)

The Healing of a Demon-possessed Man

²⁶They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. ²⁷When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. ²⁸When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” ²⁹For Jesus had commanded the evil^[b] spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.

³⁰Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. ³¹And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

³²A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. ³³When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

³⁴When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, ³⁵and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. ³⁶Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. ³⁷Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.

³⁸The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹“Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.

Growing up in the church I have heard many sermons preached on this reading. The explanations for the ‘demon possessed’ man have usually been that the man suffered from schizophrenia and that Jesus, through spiritual healing powers, removed the mental illness and restored him to his community. This explanation would make sense in the light of the mission of Jesus to heal the sick and restore people to life.

I have also heard this reading preached in a light that spiritual powers had possessed this man and that actual demons inhabited his body requiring an exorcism to spiritually cleanse him. This particular slant on this reading has led to many damaging actions taken in the name of Jesus, causing pain and suffering on many levels.

I have never really believed in spiritual warfare. It is something that I have never witnessed and would struggle to believe in. In the same token I have never seen anybody miraculously healed from mental illness using spiritual powers. In this light, I have usually struggled to sit through sermons on this topic.

I do see this reading as a vitally important reading in the context of our community. I think that it is easy to see this reading as yet another example of the amazing spiritual powers of Jesus, I also think that type of understanding makes this reading irrelevant.

We all know someone who struggles with life. Problems with alcohol, gambling, sex and drugs are all aspects of our community that cause destruction, break families and cost lives. This, for me is where we can enter the call of Jesus in this reading. We are called to lead people who are ‘possessed’ to a place of wholeness. How this looks will vary depending on the ‘demon’ and your understanding of wholeness.

For those of us who are battling our own ‘demons’ we can take heart from the fact that we are not alone, and will not be left alone. God is all about bringing people to life. Taking you from a place of death and despair, to a place of life and meaning.

For those of us who drink to fill a void, who gamble to fill a space in our lives, who use sex to feel complete, God is calling you to let your demons go. Search yourself and find the broken part of you that causes you to destroy yourself and have the courage and grace to allow yourself to be healed.

For those of us who may consider ourselves ‘demon free’ we need to examine our actions and our attitudes that may be causing the ‘possessed’ members of our communities to continue to suffer. Do we allow the space, love and support needed to allow open, honest dialogue that will lead to a life based on love.

³⁹“Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.

20/06/2010 0

Jesus brings a widow back into life.

Luke 7:11-17 (New International Version)

¹¹Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. ¹²As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. ¹³When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”

¹⁴Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” ¹⁵The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

¹⁶They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” ¹⁷This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.

Modern Context:

I want to take a moment to stop and ask God to be with Vanessa Robinson, the mother who lost her two boys who died in Maroopna last week. We pray that somehow a she will find a place of peace in her heart after the tragic loss, and that she will be able to rely on her community for support and love at this tragic time. Amen

We find the woman in this story, as someone who finds herself in a place where life has thrown her to a dark place. For this woman, this childless widow, is put in a position of worthlessness.

This woman undoubtedly finds herself questioning the value and worth of her life. She has lost her place in the world.

Widow, no husband no provider, turns to her son as provider, now he is dead. She has nothing for herself except a future of begging and/or prostitution.

Society has set itself a system of making women dependent on men. Without a man women are worthless. She can only define themselves as mother or wife in her community.

So not only has this poor woman lost her ability to define her worth through being a wife and a mother, but she has become a drain on society. She has found herself without any financial suriety. Wherever she goes she will be seen as a problem for her community. She is too old, she has no house she belongs to, she has no husband, she has no children, she is a financial burden on society. I think you would agree with me that these are still common feelings.

¹³When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”

Jesus responds to this woman and her pain and loss by giving her back her son. Giving her back a place in her community, giving her back her life.

If only it where that easy for us. We are surrounded by people in our Church, in our families, in our community, that feel removed from life and meaning. There are people that walk among us that question their worth, their place, their life. People in our community question their relevance because they are divorced, unmarried, childless, too old or because they feel they are a burden on those around them. You may know someone like that, it may even be you.

But we worship a God whose specialty is making life from death, meaning for the meaningless and hope for the hopeless. We invest ourselves in a God who loves the people God created and responds by offering life and love and meaning through the Christ.

You may not experience this as a supernatural moment when the dead are raised, but when you allow yourself to be loved, life is reinstated.

God has called us to participate in life through the Christ. We have been called from the edges of society, from the dark places of our souls and like the widow, been given renewed meaning in our lives.

And our response to this?

¹⁶They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help the people.”

We are called to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ, finding those on the edges of society, talking to people who live in the dark places of their souls, giving renewed meaning to the lives of those around us.

Go with this renewed life God has given you, and bring meaning to the widow!

09/06/2010 0

Progressive Prayer

Found this prayer on the center for progressive Christianity website

Give us courage, Lord, to honestly consider our lives in light of the life, death and the resurrection of Jesus. Help us examine our lives in light of the reconciling love embodied and revealed to us at the cross. Give us the honesty and humility to admit our failures and repent of the selfishness and greed that is in us. Give us the wisdom to stop defending bad religion and start living the faith that can transform our lives and our world. Amen.

05/06/2010 0

Vince Antonucci’s random acts of kindness

This is a facebook post from Rowland;

“She sat in her car out in the street in the pre-dawn darkness, and wondered over and over, ‘What am I doing this for?’ When the garbage-collector came she gave him some special cookies she’d baked. He was astonished: ‘No-one’s done this before’. Vince Antonucci’s ‘Guerrilla Lovers’ describes how everyone in their church was handed an envelope with a Random Act of Kindness to fulfil that week.”

http://www.vinceantonucci.com

Sweet idea.

04/06/2010 0

When in doubt, go fishing!

Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish

¹Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way:²Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. ³“I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

In moments of uncertainty we retreat to what we knew and are safe with. It is like you going home to mum when you are sick. You know you are safe and you know your role.

The disciples are confronted by life without their leader. Jesus has been crucified and is missing. The disciples are scared and confused, so they retreat to fishing, because they understand it. They are safe with fishing, they know what they are doing and they need something to retreat to.

⁴Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

⁵He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.

⁶He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

For the disciples this return to fishing was empty. It was never going to be fulfilling again, because they knew more.

It is like test driving a new Bentley continental. Handcrafted leather seats, dual zone heating and cooling, 5.1 surround sound stereo, full timber interior, V8 engine uncompromised sophistication and style. Test drive that and then climb back into your ten year old Magna, torn seats, broken heater, AM radio with one speaker, starts with a cough. Having just driven a Bentley your drive home would be fairly unfulfilling. Because you know there is more out there.

I have seen friends come home from witnessing the poverty of the two thirds world and not being able to slip quietly back into ‘normal’ consumer driven lifestyles. Because they know more.

The disciples had lived with Jesus, followed and learnt, experienced and participated in the transforming work of God. They knew there was more to their existence. Therefore fishing was unfulfilling, never the same again.

In this moment of confusion the disciples go fishing because they have to do something, they have to do anything! But it is an empty experience, almost as empty as the disciple’s nets.

⁶He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

What a stupid comment. When you lose your keys and someone says ‘did you look where you last put them?’ You would assume that professional fishermen would know what they were doing. I wouldn’t ask an accountant if he remembered to carry the one, or a mechanic if he had tried turning the key. Of course the disciples had cast their nets on the right side of the boat! They were disillusioned, not stupid!

This is not a question about the fishing technique of the disciples; it is about the fulfillment of the disciples. Are they doing what they know to be right! Are they doing the things that righteous in the spirit of God?

⁷Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. ⁸The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.

⁹When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

¹⁰Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”

¹¹Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. ¹²Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. ¹⁴This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

In hearing the voice of the risen Christ, giving insight and direction, their life suddenly has renewed meaning! Their nets are full they are reloaded with meaning. This is not a story about fishing; this is a story about responding to the call of God within the fear and confusion of life. The Call to be in right relationship with God, and all creation, even in those moments where insecurity and confusion cloud our reason.

There will always be times in our lives when we are treading water, doing enough to get by, it is in those times we must listen more closely for that quiet voice that calls us to do the things that are right, to live more graciously, to love more wastefully and to follow the call of the risen Christ.

31/05/2010 0

In the name of the local church……

^{Mark 9:38-50}

³⁸“Teacher,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”

³⁹“Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, ⁴⁰for whoever is not against us is for us. ⁴¹I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.

⁴²“And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck. ⁴³If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.^[a] ⁴⁵And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.^[b] ⁴⁷And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, ⁴⁸where
” ‘their worm does not die,
and the fire is not quenched.’^[^c^] ⁴⁹Everyone will be salted with fire.

⁵⁰“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

Jesus was not worried about his name being used to do good by someone he has no control over.

A woman I know moved from the Churches of Christ to the Uniting Church. People acted as though she had committed a sin of some kind. She had her reasons but people seem to take it personally that someone has moved congregations.

Anna, doesn’t call herself a Christian, left the church in her early 20’s, works with the Red Cross supporting trafficked women. Because she doesn’t go to Church does this make her ministry and love something we should value less?

A number of years ago I met an editor of the Big Issue. Big issue is a magazine sold by homeless people as a way of supporting themselves and giving them some pride in who they are. He confessed he did not like the Church very much and was not a Christian. Is his ministry any less amazing because of this?

As for Jesus, he does not worry about who is providing people with love and support, as long as it is happening.

So what is the difference between us as a Church community caring for people and those outside the church caring for people?

Caring for people is the essence of who we are. The Church exists to glorify God and doing that requires taking responsibility for the community of the world. We lose our reason for existing if we stop caring for people. It is as simple as that.

God is doing things that are beyond our control. Working through people who wouldn’t call themselves Christians, but whose understanding of their humanity causes them to see a world that is crying out for love.

So many people in this community go beyond what a normal person would do in order to care for someone, sometimes someone they don’t even know, not because they are paid to do it, or for the glory of it, but because the depth of their relationship with God means they know no other way!

We are called to be the salt of the earth and our flavour is about Glorifying God in this place and we do that when we recognise the call to care for people.

30/05/2010 0

Getting’ ya Prayer on!

John 17:20-26

Jesus Prays for All Believers

²⁰“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²²I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: ²³I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. ²⁴“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.²⁵“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Nature of Prayer.
A connectedness to a divine being of love who is at the center of all creation. When we pray we open ourselves to the possibility of love permeating our being and guiding us towards a future that reveals the kingdom of God!

Integrity in prayer.
²⁰“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

This prayer is one that is at the core of Jesus’s mission in the Church. Uniting all his followers, drawing people together in the mission of revealing God’s kingdom to the world.

We have all prayed prayers we don’t really mean.
Prayers to stop us swearing, prayers for a new car, prayers for rain, or sunshine, thankfulness for a meal of cabbage, tofu and broccoli when we were still full from lunch, things that in the grand scheme of things have no real bearing. These are not prayers of integrity.

If we look at the prayers of Jesus throughout the Bible they are prayers that are generated from the deepest moments of his soul. Prayers of integrity call on God to enter our deepest, most pertinent thoughts, fears, hopes and celebrations. Prayers like these confront our humanity.

Our Prayers of integrity reveal those parts of ourselves that require confrontation and action.

How can we pray for peace with integrity if we are not prepared for hard task of making peace with our own enemies, both internal and external?

A prayer of integrity must come from a place within us that understands our own fears, our own bias, our own prejudices. Without allowing God’s in to those aspects of ourselves, how can we participate as a vehicle of peace if we are ignorant to our own conflicts.

A prayer for healing for others requires that we ourselves are open to the help and grace of God for healing of our own damage, our own wounds. When we pray for the healing of someone else we too must open to restoring love of God that surrounds us, even in our darkest places.

Our prayers require participation.
The hand-pass prayer.
“God help the homeless people because I find them uncomfortable to look at.”

“God, help my friend, because I want to watch the football.”

“God, make it rain in the catchment areas that surround Melbourne because I don’t want to change my shower habits or spend money on a water tank.”

A prayer for rain or sunshine or for food for the hungry requires us to participate. We must examine our water usage, our grocery items and our energy use if our prayers are to carry meaning.

When we find ourselves in our darkest moments, when life seems to have no meaning for us outside of pain and we pray that desperate prayer of “God where are you!” We are required to open our eyes to that small glimmer of light that God shines through those who care deeply for us.

God gave us eyes to see, ears to hear and a brain to discern. For our prayers to have integrity we must participate with God in seeing them happen.

Prayer is interconnectedness with God that exposes our own humanity and puts us into contact with the loving spirit of God that is in and through all creation! In praying we are inviting God to look upon us warts and all and move us towards the kingdom of God. A kingdom where the broken are made whole, the lost are found and we are united in the love God.

17/05/2010 0