It is State of Origin time and – of much greater interest to me personally – it is also World Cup time. I didn’t watch all of last night’s game; but saw enough to feel a pang of jealousy! There were almost 80,000 people there in soaking wet conditions to cheer their respective teams. Come World Cup time some people – me included - will be getting out of bed at all sorts of hours to watch their team take on the worlds best and then somehow stagger off to do whatever the day holds for them.
You learn a lot when God calls you to do new church stuff. Occasionally I will have a fight with the Almighty and ask why I couldn’t just have some nice little church somewhere and do nice little church stuff. However, I acknowledge that the Lord does have a sense of humour and clearly prefers to have me as light relief for boring moments in heaven.
Where am I heading with my bit of waffle this week? Well you see it is those 80,000 that bugged me. How come they were there – most to see their team lose – on a night unfit for human habitation? One of the things that I have learnt about doing new church stuff is that disappointment is normal. Almost 80,000 at the footy and on Pentecost Sunday, the third biggest festival of the church, we had one of our lowest adult attendances of the year? Conditions were good, the weather cool but fine, with parking right next to the stadium and all seating under cover. Strange days indeed.
I have a theory. It is always good to have a theory as I believe it helps to keep you sane and it is actually one of the reasons that I keep pouring out things like my usually regular waffling. For those who love Rugby League there has been no shortage of pre-match entertainment. For weeks now there has been endless speculation as to who will be in and who will miss out. Is so and so fit and will whatsisname fire up on the big day? The thing is that fans absolutely devour it all. By the time the game comes around we are as match fit with information as the players are fit for the game. They love it! It isn’t just the event but the lead up the speculation and anticipation is as exciting as the game.
The church? I don’t think we love it!? As a matter of fact it is counter cultural in good old Oz to love something like the church, or even perhaps God. All things in moderation dear friends, let’s not get too excited here.
I believe that mankind has a default button that is hard wired to love and worship and so we will find things to satisfy these desires because love and worship is the oxygen of our being. The obvious question then is what do we put in place to satiate our desires?
So disappointment is normal and the question I face on a regular basis is how do I respond? Oh, I could head off for a pity party in the local phone booth with all of my friends, but you don’t see many phone booths these days. No, after a lot of years I have learned that the best way forward is to be at least true to myself. I will continue to push out some pre-match information to hopefully excite the fans and each month we will provide a regular progress report to monitor our journey. Our leadership group will continue to maintain and enhance our stadiums facilities and remain committed to providing opportunities for people to meet together in various situations to study form and even meet with the star of the show occasionally (that would be God not Jarryd Haynes).
Another thing I have learned about doing a new thing is you never stop doing a new thing. My constant challenge is not to worry about Origin 2 of 2010 that is way too short sighted for this gig. We are talking about eternal stuff here not footy. I will try, as best as I know how, to keep us finely tuned to be open to new opportunities under God to build His church. I’m 62 going on 16 and still foolishly believe that what we are on about is a darned sight more important than a footy match. As a matter of fact I am convinced it is the basis of our being.
I know; I’m a fanatic! Just like those 80,000.
Cheers - John
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Ministry By Wandering Around
I always get a little excited when a significant church anniversary day approaches and this coming Sunday ranks in the top three with Christmas and Easter as we celebrate the great day of Pentecost.
Pentecost is celebrated as the birthday of the church. We call to mind the moment when the promised Holy Spirit was poured out on those first believers some 2,000 years ago and it is fair to say that the world has never been the same since.
I posed the question last Sunday: ‘At what point did we turn the power of the Gospel from a force into a farce?’ Please don’t hear me complain – or feel sorry for me - when I say that I spend a great deal of my life in Christian leadership being frustrated.
I have so many questions: When did we turn Jesus into some religious icon instead of the living resurrected heart beat of the church? Where along the way did we make Jesus our resident four leaf clover or rabbit’s foot who will be our good luck charm? Why is the Bible the most popular and yet the least read book in the world? Why do people say that they follow Jesus but know very little about him and show little interest in finding out about him? When did we make Jesus into a great moral teacher when he was crucified for teaching heresy and sedition?
This reading is the beginning of the description of the great day of Pentecost. Remembering that the people here gathered were Jews and that the feast they ‘were all together in one place’ for was the Feast of Weeks (Hebrew ‘Shavuot’). It was a time to celebrate the culmination of the season of harvest, seven weeks after the festival of first fruits.
I call to mind our 10.02 prayer focus – ‘Jesus said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.”’ Luke 10:2
It is not a commonly known fact; but Jesus had a degree? He was known by those of us in the loop as Jesus of Nazareth MWBA. For three years Jesus, with his band of followers went from place to place preparing the ground for harvest. Some places were harder than others and the best he could do was clear away the stones and a few weeds for a plough that might come later. In other places he was able to plough a furrow or two and even sow a few seeds and sometimes enjoyed a harvest. The MBWA? He had a degree in something that we all could take note of in a world that is growing way too complicated. Jesus did his work through Ministry By just Wandering Around.
At Pentecost the amazing revelation to these male and female followers of Jesus – children of Israel – was that they were the harvest! The clearing of stones, preparing of ground, sowing of seed and nurture of soil over which Jesus had toiled was now ‘ripe for the harvest’. Through my reading of Scripture and study of the church throughout history I have come to a sure and certain conclusion: nothing has changed.
We, as followers of Christ, are part of that great harvest and the seeds of the harvest are called to be planted into the many and varied places where we live so that generation by generation God continues to find fertile soil.
Blessings - John
Pentecost is celebrated as the birthday of the church. We call to mind the moment when the promised Holy Spirit was poured out on those first believers some 2,000 years ago and it is fair to say that the world has never been the same since.
I posed the question last Sunday: ‘At what point did we turn the power of the Gospel from a force into a farce?’ Please don’t hear me complain – or feel sorry for me - when I say that I spend a great deal of my life in Christian leadership being frustrated.
I have so many questions: When did we turn Jesus into some religious icon instead of the living resurrected heart beat of the church? Where along the way did we make Jesus our resident four leaf clover or rabbit’s foot who will be our good luck charm? Why is the Bible the most popular and yet the least read book in the world? Why do people say that they follow Jesus but know very little about him and show little interest in finding out about him? When did we make Jesus into a great moral teacher when he was crucified for teaching heresy and sedition?
‘When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them’ Acts 2:1-3
This reading is the beginning of the description of the great day of Pentecost. Remembering that the people here gathered were Jews and that the feast they ‘were all together in one place’ for was the Feast of Weeks (Hebrew ‘Shavuot’). It was a time to celebrate the culmination of the season of harvest, seven weeks after the festival of first fruits.
I call to mind our 10.02 prayer focus – ‘Jesus said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.”’ Luke 10:2
It is not a commonly known fact; but Jesus had a degree? He was known by those of us in the loop as Jesus of Nazareth MWBA. For three years Jesus, with his band of followers went from place to place preparing the ground for harvest. Some places were harder than others and the best he could do was clear away the stones and a few weeds for a plough that might come later. In other places he was able to plough a furrow or two and even sow a few seeds and sometimes enjoyed a harvest. The MBWA? He had a degree in something that we all could take note of in a world that is growing way too complicated. Jesus did his work through Ministry By just Wandering Around.
At Pentecost the amazing revelation to these male and female followers of Jesus – children of Israel – was that they were the harvest! The clearing of stones, preparing of ground, sowing of seed and nurture of soil over which Jesus had toiled was now ‘ripe for the harvest’. Through my reading of Scripture and study of the church throughout history I have come to a sure and certain conclusion: nothing has changed.
We, as followers of Christ, are part of that great harvest and the seeds of the harvest are called to be planted into the many and varied places where we live so that generation by generation God continues to find fertile soil.
Blessings - John
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Isn't it good to be a Christian?
I read something recently where the comment was made how good it was to be a Christian and not be like those poor Mormon young men who have to spend time knocking on doors or the Jehovah Witness familles who have to do the same. Isn’t it good to be just plain old Christians who don’t have to do anything?
You know we can just be ‘good’ people like Jesus told us to be. The thing is Jesus tended to get a bit carried away with that being good stuff. He expected us to do good to those who hurt us. Interesting thought but much easier to get even don’t you think?
What else did Jesus tell us to do? Well, he mentioned loving those who hate us! Put that one aside; it’s way too radical. He said if someone wanted our coat to give them our overcoat as well. He did tell a young fellow to give all he had to the poor and then follow him; but of course that was specifically for that very selfish young bloke not us. He had some interesting advice about throwing a party, suggesting that we should not invite our friends but invite all of the local losers to a free hand out!?
He was a strange guy this Jesus. No wonder so many who carry the name Christian don’t spend too much time checking out what he had to say. Heavens it might change our lives!
What about the thing called the Great Commission, now better known as the Great Omission? You know it’s that bit in Matthew 28 where Jesus says ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ This is the best known version but of course it gets a mention with slight variations in Mark, Luke, John and the Book of Acts as well, so maybe it is fairly important.
A favourite story for me is that of the woman at the well in John 4:1-42. This lady has come to the well to draw water where she meets up with Jesus. A most significant verse for me follows the interaction with Jesus where we read; ‘Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city’. She returned to the place she had come from minus the reason for her going there in the first place!?
The woman had gone for water that wouldn’t last and came away with eternal refreshment. She discovered that her own need for her natural thirst to be quenched suddenly was not all that important for she had come to experience the quenching of a much deeper encounter with the person of Jesus ..
So many seem to see the Christian faith as a commodity that we might think about filling up on occasionally when we have time to fit it into our schedule. We bring our bucket expecting that it be filled. The breakthrough is when we become the bucket.
Last Sunday morning I borrowed a deeply theological lesson from that noted scholar Pinocchio. We reflected on his song ‘There are no strings on me’. Whether or not the above reflection on the lady at the well touches our heart and spirit probably depends on who is pulling our strings.
Cheers - John
You know we can just be ‘good’ people like Jesus told us to be. The thing is Jesus tended to get a bit carried away with that being good stuff. He expected us to do good to those who hurt us. Interesting thought but much easier to get even don’t you think?
What else did Jesus tell us to do? Well, he mentioned loving those who hate us! Put that one aside; it’s way too radical. He said if someone wanted our coat to give them our overcoat as well. He did tell a young fellow to give all he had to the poor and then follow him; but of course that was specifically for that very selfish young bloke not us. He had some interesting advice about throwing a party, suggesting that we should not invite our friends but invite all of the local losers to a free hand out!?
He was a strange guy this Jesus. No wonder so many who carry the name Christian don’t spend too much time checking out what he had to say. Heavens it might change our lives!
What about the thing called the Great Commission, now better known as the Great Omission? You know it’s that bit in Matthew 28 where Jesus says ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ This is the best known version but of course it gets a mention with slight variations in Mark, Luke, John and the Book of Acts as well, so maybe it is fairly important.
A favourite story for me is that of the woman at the well in John 4:1-42. This lady has come to the well to draw water where she meets up with Jesus. A most significant verse for me follows the interaction with Jesus where we read; ‘Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city’. She returned to the place she had come from minus the reason for her going there in the first place!?
The woman had gone for water that wouldn’t last and came away with eternal refreshment. She discovered that her own need for her natural thirst to be quenched suddenly was not all that important for she had come to experience the quenching of a much deeper encounter with the person of Jesus ..
she met him at the well.
She put down her water jar, and she went out to tell the Good News. She brought people to the well .. and so to Jesus. She became a bucket .. a means of bringing others to the living water. (source unknown)
So many seem to see the Christian faith as a commodity that we might think about filling up on occasionally when we have time to fit it into our schedule. We bring our bucket expecting that it be filled. The breakthrough is when we become the bucket.
Last Sunday morning I borrowed a deeply theological lesson from that noted scholar Pinocchio. We reflected on his song ‘There are no strings on me’. Whether or not the above reflection on the lady at the well touches our heart and spirit probably depends on who is pulling our strings.
Cheers - John
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