Two great albums in the CD player...

The latest music I'm listening to and loving are Crowded House's latest: Time on Earth, and Cowboy Junkies latest At the End of Paths Taken...

Neil Finn has been a long-time favourite of mine and it is neat that Crowded House have found a new life despite the tragic death of Paul Hester. The melody lines Neil comes up with in the songs are some of the richest I have heard... Pour Le Monde & English Trees... sublime!

As for Cowboy Junkies - this album has a 'heavier' style to it [but hey, this is folk rock so not too heavy!]... stronger guitar than usual and some great use of orchestral backing (a first as far as I recall).

If you are looking for great new music to listen to, these albums are the best I have heard this year!

Here's someone elses Junkies review... [read it by scrolling down until you see the album image]... http://images.google.co.nz/imgres?imgurl=http://weeklyvolcano.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/04/13/cowboyjunkies.jpg&imgrefurl=http://weeklyvolcano.typepad.com/spew/concert_alert/index.html&h=500&w=500&sz=24&hl=en&start=40&tbnid=M8NWSlltmTem0M:&tbnh=130&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcowboy%2Bjunkies%26start%3D40%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN

Dolphins fail crucial intelligence tests thus are not suitable candidates for baptism

I found the following remarkable article as I have been preparing for my visit to Vanuatu.

Study: Dolphins Not So Intelligent On Land

http://www.news.vu/en/living/Vanuatu-Daily-News-Satire/060216-vanuatu-dolphin-study.shtml

This article is helpful in confirming among other things that dolphins are not human. This may be a shock to some people, but it is better that this is stated for the public record. Humans are able to perform their tricks on both land and in the sea.

I have had an ongoing discussion with a friend and colleague over whether our dogs should be baptised or not. [My friend is the most reluctant host of a dog - so reluctant, in fact, that the word host is stated here in the sense of the relationship between parasite and host, rather than in the sense of hospitality that might exist between guest and host.]

My friend has argued that being made in the image of God and able to worship God, freely respond, etc are the essential preconditions for baptism into the church. He has stated firmly that our dogs are not of such a precondition... I haven't had the opportunity to ask him whether dolphins would have a better chance of being suitable for baptism. But I was about to until I read the attached article.

Until today, my argument would have been that dolphins are as intelligent as humans, or possibly, more intelligent... this was to be backed by studies of:

the size of dolphin brains,

their ability to communicate,

their dexterous fins,

their ability to ward off sharks and avoid warfare (a quality clearly superior to humans and an obvious living out of the 'blessed be the peacemakers' teaching of Jesus,

their concern for global warming and other global issues,

their ability to laugh at themselves (and us)

and, of course, their interest in theology albeit some difficulty in the communication thereof beyond their own species...

But now they have proved to have failed in some crucial intelligence tests... maybe the baptism question has to be suspended until they can pass the crucial out-of-water intelligence tests.

a terrible force and a terrible urgency

At some thoughts one stands perplexed, above all at the sight of human sin, and wonders whether to combat it by force or by humble love. Always decide 'I will combat it by humble love.' If you resolve on that once for all, you can conquer the whole world. Loving humility is a terrible force: it is the strongest of all things, and there is nothing else like it.

- Starets [Elder] Zosima, from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Through her encounter with Soren Kierkegaard, Anne talks of sin as alienation from God... our actions reflecting our distance from God, rather than limiting it to morality (i.e. immoral behaviour is a reflection of our alienation). So how do we attend to that alienation and its various expressions? Dostoevsky's Zosima offers the way... loving humility.

How I long for the church to behave in such a way... a humble posture before the towns and cities and nations it finds itself in... but how far short it falls of this. Too often the church behaves as a power... demanding servitude, presenting a posture of arrogance and control, hierarchical, self-righteous...

It doesn't need to be this way - indeed there is nothing in Jesus suggesting any other posture than loving humility... but what mountains he moved!

I'm part of a church that is struggling as a denomination and in many aspects of its national, regional and local life. And in such times of struggle it is tempting for the institution to assert power in the name of turning things around as if this is possible from on high. I believe that for the church nothing of lasting value is possible from on high unless it is in the right spirit... the spirit of Jesus its Lord. Loving humility... that's the way - attending to the small things - good relationships, caring structures, communities where people can find meaning and sanctuary, a confident expression of the gospel-hope... these are the important things...

I wish I was more confident in these important things being held to the fore - but increasingly we look to the corporate world for the answers to our struggles... the corporate world where service is usually over-shadowed by profit-lines and people are seen as commodities. How heavily do we borrow from the corporate world and how much should we resist its ways and wiles?

Loving humility is the measure... a way that moves mountains... why has the church lost confidence in what should be its key posture?

I suggest that the key influence that has led the church down the wrong path is the western consumerist culture... its dominance over us has blinded us - we have been duped.

I believe it is time to see it for what it is, name it, expose it and set about recovering the gospel way.

Two more Ben Elton books

I've just finished reading another two Ben Elton books (not at the same time you understand... I do have my limits!) and they have once again been very good reads. In both books, Elton plays with the irony of those critiquing the fads also participating in them.

The most enjoyable of the two was the whodunit Past Mortem, it has a great interplay between the two investigating officers, a clever plot, rather horrible serial killings and a gripping climax. The theme of bullying is cleverly addressed, and its dimensions in both school, workplace and beyond are well-covered.

Dead Famous manages to expose the pathetic, fluffy, and morally decadent side of the whole reality TV thing (Big Brother etc) yet, of course, without such programmes achieving their high ratings, Elton would have not had the material on which to base a novel...

I am no great fan of the maniuplative side of TV - that's part of why I hardly watch it and why I detest so-called reality TV. I watch TV for escape not reality!

I have another of his novels in the bookshelf, but I might have take a few days off to reacquaint myself with the others in the reality of my house!

Samaritan Part 2... crowds, bullies & compassion

Here's Part 2 of the sermon... it wasn't at them in one hit but filtered through the service...
http://www.ststephens.co.nz/ministry/sermons/collection/20070715.1184468665.php

90 years on since WWI's Passchendaele battle

WWI's Passchendaele battle is being noted this week and over the next few months. I am reluctant to use words like commemorated or celebrated... the only triumph was folly. Something like 500,000 allied soldiers died at Passchendaele - the sheer stupidity of the manner of many of those deaths is the lasting legacy. New Zealand has its own 'noting' over there in late October marking a day when 2,500 NZers died on one horrible day.

I guess my somewhat cynical view of what took place was reinforced reading Ben Elton's The First Casualty, watching the 4th series of Blackadder and the excellent French movie A Very Long Engagement. Of course I recognise that the soldiers themselves were courageous in dire circumstances - they had little choice - they deserved better from their leaders and from the people who got themselves into the mess that was early 20th century Europe.

Harry Potter #5

Josh and I went along to see Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix yesterday - along with a million others...

I confess that I have only seen one of the other movies (the first) and bits of the some of the others... and I was left with a similar ho-hum feeling to the first time.

While the effects are stunning I found the storyline was average... Lottie & Kate from the youth group assured us that the books are much better... so I take their word for it.

I'm more of a Batman kind of guy - if you are wanting to look at the dark side in movies Batman Begins offers much more... but that's just me!

Samaritan sermon part 1

I mentioned part 1 in an earlier blog... here is it: http://www.ststephens.co.nz/ministry/sermons/collection/20070708.1184210610.php

I'm currently being distracted from part 2 which has a range of angles... bullies, crowds, the tongue and an interesting angle on compassion looking at the human sacrifice origins of the original Greek word... something for everyone!

Coffee with a Conscience

I've just placed an order for good coffee for our church...

I know a few people who work for Mission Aviation Fellowship - a Christian organisation who provide aeroplanes for people to access remote locations at modest rates but with high quality service. A few years ago I visited their Australasian headquarters in Cairns along with a look at their aircraft maintenance facilities at Mareeba. They do a great work. (http://www.maf.org.au/)

One thing I found out was how they help support coffee growers in remote highland villages in Papua New Guinea. Effectively, by flying out coffee beans MAF offer an alternative to village people growing drugs...

Alongside this is encouraging Fair Trade-style coffee purchases... in New Zealand, a woman whose husband died flying aircraft for MAF, runs Coffee with a Conscience. I have just ordered a few kilograms for our church & community centre after some gentle pressure from our pre-school music & play parents to improve the quality of the coffee each Wednesday.

Here is the contact address for any people wanting to have quality organic coffee that is guaranteed to support the growers in the New Guinea Highlands: http://www.latitudesix.org.nz/

The lives of others

Anne and I saw The Lives of Others a few days ago at the delightful Cloister's Theatre in the Christchurch Arts Centre... it was profound. We were reminded once again of the dark shadows of 20th century Europe that continued on into our at-the-end-of-the-baby-boom era.

It seems that most of our favourite movies are depictions of the way art/beauty/music can transform people and open a window of hope (As it is in heaven, Life is beautiful, Les Choristes, Amelie etc) and they are all European... interesting. The cinematography was brilliant - I loved the way the main character (pictured) showed joy at the end but with only the faintest change in his quite serious face... the power of film at its best.

The Good Samaritan

I'm working towards a couple of sermons on the Good Samaritan parable from Luke 10:25f. The angle on it taken by Robert Farrar Capon in his Parables of Grace book combined with some of the paintings by an American artist Tim Lowly (http://www.timlowly.com/) lead me down the path of questioning any interpretations of the parable that focus on good works as the answer to the lawyer's question "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"

I'll post a way to get to the sermon that emerges next week but leave you with one of Lowly's paintings (Beacon) where he depicts Temma, his severely handicapped daughter, as the person lying helpless on the road who requires neighbours.