Open Letter to Barack Obama from Alice Walker Nov. 5, 2008
Dear Brother Obama,
You have no idea, really, of how profound this moment is for us. Us being the black people of the Southern United States. You think you know, because you are thoughtful, and you have studied our history. But seeing you deliver the torch so many others before you carried, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, only to be struck down before igniting the flame of justice and of law, is almost more than the heart can bear.
And yet, this observation is not intended to burden you, for you are of a different time, and, indeed, because of all the relay runners before you, North America is a different place. It is really only to say: Well done. We knew, through all the generations, that you were with us, in us, the best of the spirit of Africa and of the Americas. Knowing this, that you would actually appear, someday, was part of our strength. Seeing you take your rightful place, based solely on your wisdom, stamina and character, is a balm for the weary warriors of hope, previously only sung about.
I would advise you to remember that you did not create the disaster that the world is experiencing, and you alone are not responsible for bringing the world back to balance. A primary responsibility that you do have, however, is to cultivate happiness in your own life. To make a schedule that permits sufficient time of rest and play with your gorgeous wife and lovely daughters. And so on. One gathers that your family is large. We are used to seeing men in the White House soon become juiceless and as white-haired as the building; we notice their wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors. This is no way to lead. Nor does your family deserve this fate. One way of thinking about all this is: It is so bad now that there is no excuse not to relax. From your happy, relaxed state, you can model real success, which is all that so many people in the world really want. They may buy endless cars and houses and furs and gobble up all the attention and space they can manage, or barely manage, but this is because it is not yet clear to them that success is truly an inside job. That it is within the reach of almost everyone.
I would further advise you not to take on other people's enemies. Most damage that others do to us is out of fear humiliation and pain. Those feelings occur in all of us, not just in those of us who profess a certain religious or racial devotion. We must learn actually not to have enemies, but only confused adversaries who are ourselves in disguise.
It is understood by all that you are commander in chief of the United States and are sworn to protect our beloved country; this we understand, completely. However, as my mother used to say, quoting a Bible with which I often fought, "hate the sin, but love the sinner."
There must be no more crushing of whole communities, no more torture, no more dehumanising as a means of ruling a people's spirit. This has already happened to people of colour, poor people, women, children. We see where this leads, where it has led. A good model of how to "work with the enemy" internally is presented by the Dalai Lama, in his endless care of his soul as he confronts the Chinese government that invaded Tibet. Because, finally, it is the soul that must be preserved, if one is to remain a credible leader. All else might be lost; but when the soul dies, the connection to earth, to peoples, to animals, to rivers, to mountain ranges purple and majestic, also dies. And your smile, with which we watch you do gracious battle with unjust characterizations, distortions and lies, is that expression of healthy self-worth, spirit and soul, that, kept happy and free and relaxed, can find an answering smile in all of us, lighting our way, andbrightening the world. We are the ones we have been waiting for.
In Peace and Joy, Alice Walker
12 November 2008
07 November 2008
The real America - a John Oliver perspective
If you want to be scared and humoured all at once take a look at this John Oliver interview (from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) out on the campaign rallies of Obama and Palin.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=189163&title=Obama-and-Palin-Rallies-of-Fear
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=189163&title=Obama-and-Palin-Rallies-of-Fear
I think John Oliver is quite wonderful!
06 November 2008
YES!
YES!
Thank God, yes!
Now, can he be given room to do what he needs to do? I hope that he can wrestle the powers and not be too wounded by them.
31 October 2008
go Barack go!
Less than a week... come on America - take the step into someone offering a hopeful difference - even we little ones in New Zealand aknow that this one matters - and anecdotal polls over here suggest we are over 75% sure that you have to go with Obama for President! Do it! And if you are Republican and you are just not sure then if you can't vote for Obama then at least stay home and don't give the world Sarah Palin. Don't trust the wink!
hope in the younger generation
A colleague sent me this - thinking that I would find it resonated with some of my points of view.
He and I agree that it is in the vein of the Australian cartoonist Michael Leunig's work.
30 September 2008
Anotherland
Dave Dobbyn - one of NZ's finest musicians has released his new CD, Anotherland. I wondered how he would move on from his acclaimed Available Light album, but he has - this time with some blues-style horns and deep dug spirituality. I'm loving the album more and more as I listen to it.
You can check Dave out for yourself on his website: http://www.davedobbyn.co.nz/anotherland.html
23 August 2008
Little People
I discovered a great blog - someone's creative angle on the world through little people 'installations' in the cityscape. Here are a few pictures... this person has a way to go to get 'up' to the level of Banksy's social commentary though the McDonald's spaceman 'Life as we know it' is getting there (see the site http://little-people.blogspot.com/)
19 August 2008
watermark community church
I found the following YouTube ad on the Ship of Fools page... I've been looking at doing some advertising for our church - the biggest trouble is whether we can deliver... we're just not great exponents of the 'prosperity gospel' - our budget is too small and we are just a little bit unwilling to deliver whatever people want...
I don't know, maybe it is just this dumb idea we have that Jesus should shape us to his way rather than we shaping him to whatever suits us.
But this ad... it is amazing... I might join because I want a world trip and just can't afford it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAg1rRbxrGY
I don't know, maybe it is just this dumb idea we have that Jesus should shape us to his way rather than we shaping him to whatever suits us.
But this ad... it is amazing... I might join because I want a world trip and just can't afford it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAg1rRbxrGY
15 August 2008
Across the Universe
Ahh... finally - my pick for film of the year (even though it was released in 2007).This week we went to Across the Universe, directed by Julie Taymor. It was brilliant!
The music - all Beatles songs (33 I believe) well sung by the cast with very groovy arrangements, that fitted into the clever story... the costumes, choreography and sets were excellent... even Bono made a cameo as Dr Robert. 
If you haven't seen this movie and you like the Beatles or lived a bit in the 60's (or wished that you did!) then watch it. It is out on DVD in the Northern Hemisphere but on at the Academy theatre in Christchurch, NZ.
If you haven't seen this movie and you like the Beatles or lived a bit in the 60's (or wished that you did!) then watch it. It is out on DVD in the Northern Hemisphere but on at the Academy theatre in Christchurch, NZ.I bought the CD today (deluxe version as it has more songs)... truly wonderful!
07 August 2008
The Moody Blues
I've been in a Moody Blues phase of late... purchased a few CDs and pulled out others. Along with my brothers, I prefer the pre 1972 albums, up to the time they went into a four year recess and Mike Pinder left (Mike is my favourite 'Moody')
The albums I have brought are A Question of Balance, Days of Future Past, and In Search of the Lost Chord. Probably the only songs known by most people are off the 1967 Days... album (Forever) Tuesday Afternoon and Nights In White Satin. The sleeve notes of these remixed CDs add to the experience.
My favourite Moody songs are: Ray Thomas' For my lady, & Legend of a Mind and Mike Pinder's When we are freemen & Melancholy Man.
The album of that era I find the most inaccessible is Threshold of a Dream - mainly, I suspect, because I didn't ever listen to it when my older brother sent me Moody's tapes in my later teenage years in the late-70's.
The only Moody's LP I ever purchased for myself was 1981's Long Distance Voyager - I love the opening track Justin Hayward's The Voice and his Forever Autumn song on Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds musical is a long-standing favourite song.
Is anyone 'out there' a Moody's fan?
The albums I have brought are A Question of Balance, Days of Future Past, and In Search of the Lost Chord. Probably the only songs known by most people are off the 1967 Days... album (Forever) Tuesday Afternoon and Nights In White Satin. The sleeve notes of these remixed CDs add to the experience.
My favourite Moody songs are: Ray Thomas' For my lady, & Legend of a Mind and Mike Pinder's When we are freemen & Melancholy Man.
The album of that era I find the most inaccessible is Threshold of a Dream - mainly, I suspect, because I didn't ever listen to it when my older brother sent me Moody's tapes in my later teenage years in the late-70's.
The only Moody's LP I ever purchased for myself was 1981's Long Distance Voyager - I love the opening track Justin Hayward's The Voice and his Forever Autumn song on Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds musical is a long-standing favourite song.
Is anyone 'out there' a Moody's fan?
Vacation Over
I haven't really been on vacation (apart from a wonderful week in Sydney, Australia) - I'm involved in a process in our church that has mostly kept me silent. While it is still going on and I haven't heard anything, I've decided that I'll blog anyway!
Three things that have pushed my buttons:
1. World Youth Day in Sydney. While Anne and I didn't go over to be 'pilgrims' in this mega Roman Catholic Youth festival (Pope Benedict included) - we did enjoy catching up with our German 'daughter' Hannah who was a pilgrim - and mostly enjoyed the buzz in the city. What intrigued me the most (and this probably reflects NZers unease with flag-waving) was that the pilgrims mostly wandered the streets in their ethnic groups, singing and chanting as they waved their national flags. I would have thought they would have been more interested in mixing together - I'm sure that must have happened, but it didn't seem to be happening. I don;t believe we will address the world's concerns or even celebrate the Christian faith by flag-waving.
Nevertheless, the colour and vibrancy was neat, the city was grand and the heightened police presence was a welcome and pleasant security.
2. a few good novels - Water for elephants - a very thoughtful and readable adventure in a 1930's circus train - highly recommended! My name was Judas by C K Stead (a NZ novelist) - while from the angle of modernist skepticism it is an interesting perspective on the whole Jesus adventure that I am aware many buy into, thus it is useful to trawl this particular ocean. And, Mark Haddon's A Spot of Bother a fun romp into the messed up lives of a British family and their rising above their troubles.
3. William Stringfellow - I'm reading Free in Obedience again and just love his provocative perspective on the church. The book was written in the mid-60's in the US - he addresses the church and its role in the city and its too willing participation in death (denial of Christ's sovereignty) - I'll get back on this as I read more.
Three things that have pushed my buttons:
1. World Youth Day in Sydney. While Anne and I didn't go over to be 'pilgrims' in this mega Roman Catholic Youth festival (Pope Benedict included) - we did enjoy catching up with our German 'daughter' Hannah who was a pilgrim - and mostly enjoyed the buzz in the city. What intrigued me the most (and this probably reflects NZers unease with flag-waving) was that the pilgrims mostly wandered the streets in their ethnic groups, singing and chanting as they waved their national flags. I would have thought they would have been more interested in mixing together - I'm sure that must have happened, but it didn't seem to be happening. I don;t believe we will address the world's concerns or even celebrate the Christian faith by flag-waving.
Nevertheless, the colour and vibrancy was neat, the city was grand and the heightened police presence was a welcome and pleasant security.
2. a few good novels - Water for elephants - a very thoughtful and readable adventure in a 1930's circus train - highly recommended! My name was Judas by C K Stead (a NZ novelist) - while from the angle of modernist skepticism it is an interesting perspective on the whole Jesus adventure that I am aware many buy into, thus it is useful to trawl this particular ocean. And, Mark Haddon's A Spot of Bother a fun romp into the messed up lives of a British family and their rising above their troubles.
3. William Stringfellow - I'm reading Free in Obedience again and just love his provocative perspective on the church. The book was written in the mid-60's in the US - he addresses the church and its role in the city and its too willing participation in death (denial of Christ's sovereignty) - I'll get back on this as I read more.
02 June 2008
27 May 2008
Mart hits 47 years with his favourite music from last year
Another birthday has passed… as I have done for the last three years, I compiled the group of songs that I have enjoyed the most this last year. The list is not in order of preference, but in order of what I think makes a good mix. I don’t listen to the radio to find new music – it is much more hit and miss than that, thus the collection comes entirely from cds at home… I don’t know why I put this list up on the blog… musical taste is so subjective, why would anyone want to listen to what I listen to? Before you run off and buy anything I’ve listed, do ask yourself that question!
#1 The Decemberists The Crane Wife Pt 3 (from The Crane Wife) My daughter Hana introduced this – for Anne, Sam, Josh & I it is a Gold Coast, Australia song – we hired a car, we had one CD, this was the opening track.
#2 Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova Falling Slowly (from The Swell Season & the movie Once). This just qualified – Anne and I watched Once just three weeks before my birthday.
#3 Cowboy Junkies December Skies (from Early 20th Century Blues) The album is made up mostly of covers – it is my favourite Junkies album… this song starts with references to September 11 – sadness and lament for humanity as the 21st century gets underway.
#4 Crowded House Pour le Monde (from Time On Earth). Crowded House are back – we saw them in concert and they didn’t play this song! What confidence to leave the best track out from the play list. What a problem having so many good songs to choose from!
#5 David Gilmour On An Island (the title track from On An Island) We have watched the live DVD more than listened to the CD and had to include something from the maestro.
#6 Liam Finn Second Chance (from I’ll Be Lightening). Liam Finn’s quirky debut solo album is a masterpiece. He goes into strange territory with his rhythms and excels.
#7 Natalie Merchant Motherland (the title track from Motherland) Her participation in the Junkies Trinity Revisited led us to seek out this album.
#8 Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds Into My Arms (from The Best of…) A moving love song.
#9 The Decemberists Summersong (see above)
#10 Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova When your mind’s made up (see above)
#11 Cowboy Junkies Misguided Angel (from Trinity Revisited) This album is a musical and visual feast… 20 years on the Junkies revisit their second album and the church it was recorded in and do the same set with several other musicians in attendance, including Natalie Merchant and Ryan Adams. The DVD has been watched over and over again.
#12 Crowded House English Trees (see above)
#13 Eric Clapton & Billy Preston Isn’t It a Pity (from Concert for George) A year after George Harrison died a band of friends got together and gave a concert… wonderful stuff! The Junkies covered this song on Early 20th Century Blues and I was torn over which version to include.
#14 Liam Finn I’ll Be Lightening (see above) This song is verse, verse, verse & chorus… strange and brilliant with Neil Finn on bass.
#15 Eric Clapton with Paul McCartney While My Guitar Gently Weeps (from Concert for George) Eric bleeds for his friend – one of my all-time favourite songs.
#1 The Decemberists The Crane Wife Pt 3 (from The Crane Wife) My daughter Hana introduced this – for Anne, Sam, Josh & I it is a Gold Coast, Australia song – we hired a car, we had one CD, this was the opening track.
#2 Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova Falling Slowly (from The Swell Season & the movie Once). This just qualified – Anne and I watched Once just three weeks before my birthday.
#3 Cowboy Junkies December Skies (from Early 20th Century Blues) The album is made up mostly of covers – it is my favourite Junkies album… this song starts with references to September 11 – sadness and lament for humanity as the 21st century gets underway.
#4 Crowded House Pour le Monde (from Time On Earth). Crowded House are back – we saw them in concert and they didn’t play this song! What confidence to leave the best track out from the play list. What a problem having so many good songs to choose from!
#5 David Gilmour On An Island (the title track from On An Island) We have watched the live DVD more than listened to the CD and had to include something from the maestro.
#6 Liam Finn Second Chance (from I’ll Be Lightening). Liam Finn’s quirky debut solo album is a masterpiece. He goes into strange territory with his rhythms and excels.
#7 Natalie Merchant Motherland (the title track from Motherland) Her participation in the Junkies Trinity Revisited led us to seek out this album.
#8 Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds Into My Arms (from The Best of…) A moving love song.
#9 The Decemberists Summersong (see above)
#10 Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova When your mind’s made up (see above)
#11 Cowboy Junkies Misguided Angel (from Trinity Revisited) This album is a musical and visual feast… 20 years on the Junkies revisit their second album and the church it was recorded in and do the same set with several other musicians in attendance, including Natalie Merchant and Ryan Adams. The DVD has been watched over and over again.
#12 Crowded House English Trees (see above)
#13 Eric Clapton & Billy Preston Isn’t It a Pity (from Concert for George) A year after George Harrison died a band of friends got together and gave a concert… wonderful stuff! The Junkies covered this song on Early 20th Century Blues and I was torn over which version to include.
#14 Liam Finn I’ll Be Lightening (see above) This song is verse, verse, verse & chorus… strange and brilliant with Neil Finn on bass.
#15 Eric Clapton with Paul McCartney While My Guitar Gently Weeps (from Concert for George) Eric bleeds for his friend – one of my all-time favourite songs.
kingdom of God
I was talking about the kingdom of God with the youth group the other night... I suggested that the kingdom way is more often seen when you are on the way, living into its way, than seen for what it is by a wondering bystander (and of course as soon as you begin to see it it turns out to be bigger than you could ever imagine and thus something you will never really get).
I shared some little examples of how I live in the kingdom way... like my attitude at the supermarket. Quite often when I'm walking through the car park, if I see a trolley left where it souldn't be, I walk it in and put it away even if I have no use of it myself. No one sees this, no one cares whether I do this or not... I don't do it to score points with people, to feel good or even think that God will treat me any differently than God already treats me... I do it primarily because I live into another reality where I treat people as I have been treated by God in Christ... Someone might need that parking space and a trolley is in the way...
someone has to collect the trolleys, at times in some pretty horrible weather, and I imagine that that person having to go and get a trolley from some obscure corner of the car park might feel resentment towards others and might find whatever job satisfaction they have harder to find on that day...
so I serve...
I try to live this way in all facets of my life and fail on most fronts most days... but God is not finished with me yet...
I shared some little examples of how I live in the kingdom way... like my attitude at the supermarket. Quite often when I'm walking through the car park, if I see a trolley left where it souldn't be, I walk it in and put it away even if I have no use of it myself. No one sees this, no one cares whether I do this or not... I don't do it to score points with people, to feel good or even think that God will treat me any differently than God already treats me... I do it primarily because I live into another reality where I treat people as I have been treated by God in Christ... Someone might need that parking space and a trolley is in the way...
someone has to collect the trolleys, at times in some pretty horrible weather, and I imagine that that person having to go and get a trolley from some obscure corner of the car park might feel resentment towards others and might find whatever job satisfaction they have harder to find on that day...
so I serve...
I try to live this way in all facets of my life and fail on most fronts most days... but God is not finished with me yet...
15 May 2008
soundings
Soundings
(my weekly email to St Stephen's folk)
At St Stephen’s this week we are focusing on the theme of Creativity…
It has been sparked by a combination of the set readings and a painting that Amos Dalkie has recently completed that he will bring along to show… it is quite lovely.
When you think about what creativity is what comes to your mind? I tend to think immediately of the creative arts – music, painting, needle-work etc. And all too soon I lament my lack of such talents…
But does our view have to be so limited?
What if we were to widen our view and think about creativity as partnership in God’s creativity… (Michelangelo’s ‘hand of God in creation’ picture from the Sistine Chapel depicts the partnership)… what then?
Here’s a warm-up quote… “Creativity is a way of living life, no matter what our vocation or how we earn a living.” [Madeline L’Engle]
Now that is a wide view and no one gets excluded because they may not be as able to paint as well as Michelangelo or Amos Dalkie!!!
09 May 2008
You've got to live it to get it
Yesterday I made a comment regarding Colin McCahon's elusive art... and Jesus' Kingdom being similarly elusive...
Anne found the following quote from the dancer Anna Pavlova: when asked "What do you say when you dance?"she replied "If I could tell you I wouldn't dance."
For me the Kingdom of God can't be grasped by any other means than being immersed in it... you've got to live it to get it.
And another U2 lyric just to introduce a bit of Kingdom paradox... from the song City Of Blinding Lights:
"The more you see the less you know
The less you find out as you go
I knew much more then than I do now."
So to conclude... you can't grasp the Kingdom except by jumping in, and once you jump in you find you can't grasp it... so jump!
Anne found the following quote from the dancer Anna Pavlova: when asked "What do you say when you dance?"she replied "If I could tell you I wouldn't dance."
For me the Kingdom of God can't be grasped by any other means than being immersed in it... you've got to live it to get it.
And another U2 lyric just to introduce a bit of Kingdom paradox... from the song City Of Blinding Lights:
"The more you see the less you know
The less you find out as you go
I knew much more then than I do now."
So to conclude... you can't grasp the Kingdom except by jumping in, and once you jump in you find you can't grasp it... so jump!
08 May 2008
Go Barack Obama
I'm hoping a praying that the Democrat Party nomination will go Obama's way - and soon - he heralds a new season and boy do we need a new season...
Hinewai
Last weekend I went with some of the St Stephen's youth group to bunk down at the lodge at the Hinewai Reserve on Banks Peninsula, over the hill behind the town of Akaroa. The weather was blizzard-like, but apart from a 1-30am water-leak on the first night and a long clean-up operation, we were cosy and warm in the beautifully converted shearing shed and there was a long-enough break in the weather for us to go tramping along some of the upper tracks.The reserve was established 20 years ago with the intention of fostering the regrowth of the native vegetation - when the trust began its work there were a few pockets of kanuka (kunzea ericoides), totara (podocarpus totara) and red beech(nothofagus fusca), but mostly paddock and virulent introduced gorse (ulex europaeus)... but with the removal of grazing animals, serious work at reducing the rabbit and possum population along with the avoidance of fire, the regeneration of bush has been stunning. The work is overseen by a small group with Hugh Wilson, a botanist, who is the resident manager - he is quite a character!
We used the context to look at issues facing the planet and how we might begin to address them from a Christian perspective.
The opening photo is a view of the reserve with the lodge to the left and down to Otanerito Bay in the distance. The gorse was conveniently in flower, but if all goes well, in another ten years it won't be there at all - the forest will have used the gorse as an incubator and then killed the gorse off once the gorse was starved of light. In many areas this has already occurred.
The second photo is of the others in the group taken in front of a red beech tree. It is rare to have beech forests near the coast on the eastern side of the south island.
The third image is the Fuschia Falls - just a short distance from the lodge. The native fuschia (fuschia excorticata or Kotukutuku) has prospered in this environment.
one has to believe to see
I've just spent half an hour reading William McCahon's article about his father's art in A Question of Faith. (Colin McCahon is New Zealand's foremost modernist artist.) The article made a very good point about the difficulty most people have had interpreting McCahon's paintings and the artist's unwillingness to explain the art for them - McCahon seemingly took seriously the notion that if people have eyes then let them see. In other words - one has to believe to see . There's a U2 line from the song Walk On that goes - You're packing a suitcase for a place none of has been, a place that has to be believed to be seen.
I've been doing a lot of thinking about Jesus' Kingdom of God of late. I like the way that Jesus alludes to its nature but refrains from giving explicit detail - he paints a picture of it, but one will only get the dimensions of it by entering through the narrow gate (him).
It strikes me that people's attempts to break 'entering Jesus' Kingdom of God' into easy steps, clear pictures and formulations is misguided.
This of course presents an ongoing challenge to the preacher - to respect the mystery and not play with the listeners by suggesting that they can easily get what Jesus is on about. I like that Jesus sidestepped those who tried to pin him down. I like the way that as soon as you try to box Jesus he slips away and pops up somewhere else.
I like that McCahon, committed to the way of Jesus, left his art to do its own talking.
Here are a few McCahon paintings... one of my favourites is Otago Peninsula (1946) it is in the Dunedin City Library... I walked in one day and asked one of the staff if she could point out the Colin McCahon piece - she didn't know there was one there, nor did she know of the brilliant Ralph Hotere and Nigel Brown works. I found it soon enough. If you stand in the stairwell and look up it stares you in the face. (It was approximately 8 metres from where the woman worked!)
Another I have included is simply titled One. It has McCahon's trademark triangle in the corner - the Trinity... hinted at in the Scriptures but not easily understood... but the nature of God nevertheless - the truth despite us.
See more McCahon works at http://www.mccahon.co.nz/browse.asp
I've been doing a lot of thinking about Jesus' Kingdom of God of late. I like the way that Jesus alludes to its nature but refrains from giving explicit detail - he paints a picture of it, but one will only get the dimensions of it by entering through the narrow gate (him).
It strikes me that people's attempts to break 'entering Jesus' Kingdom of God' into easy steps, clear pictures and formulations is misguided.
This of course presents an ongoing challenge to the preacher - to respect the mystery and not play with the listeners by suggesting that they can easily get what Jesus is on about. I like that Jesus sidestepped those who tried to pin him down. I like the way that as soon as you try to box Jesus he slips away and pops up somewhere else.
I like that McCahon, committed to the way of Jesus, left his art to do its own talking.
Here are a few McCahon paintings... one of my favourites is Otago Peninsula (1946) it is in the Dunedin City Library... I walked in one day and asked one of the staff if she could point out the Colin McCahon piece - she didn't know there was one there, nor did she know of the brilliant Ralph Hotere and Nigel Brown works. I found it soon enough. If you stand in the stairwell and look up it stares you in the face. (It was approximately 8 metres from where the woman worked!)
Another I have included is simply titled One. It has McCahon's trademark triangle in the corner - the Trinity... hinted at in the Scriptures but not easily understood... but the nature of God nevertheless - the truth despite us.
See more McCahon works at http://www.mccahon.co.nz/browse.asp
07 May 2008
29 April 2008
Story of Stuff
Have a gawk at this site - a wonderful way of showing how the stuff we buy comes to be where it is and at whose expense. www.storyofstuff.com
19 April 2008
Surrounded by the Perilous Poozers of Pompelmoose Pass
I'm working on tomorrow's sermon and being helped by Poozers!
My parents encouraged me and my siblings to read - books were always part of our birthdays and Christmases. Dr Suess was a favourite with his wacky language and brilliant artwork. He was also something of a subversive, taking the opportunity to point out a few truths to the world. My favourite is Yertle the Turtle. I have used that story as part of a presentation on The Powers & the Church. It went down particularly well in Vanuatu. As Anne and I were planning for this Sunday I remembered the story I had trouble in getting to Solla Sollew where the character is surrounded by the Perilous Poozers of Pompelmoose Pass all because he is trying to find a place where he will be free from troubles. Of course there is no such place. The character heads back home understanding that he has to tackle the troubles rather than run from them.
Anne and I will share the story at church.
Here's where some of my thoughts are heading...
Sometimes our wounds are overwhelming [like it is in the Dr Suess story] Do we run from what surrounds us, threatens us, and wounds us? Or do we walk into the situations and find our way through despite our wounds?
Do we run from our troubles or find a way to make the best of them?
Personally I think that our wounds heal better when we face them rather than try to deny them. But don’t you think for a minute that I am here to tell you that there is a clear way to handle difficult situations. Sometimes stepping back from a troubling situation is the best option, and sometimes making the best of what you have is the best option. And both alternatives can leave you with deep wounds that are hard to heal. But facing the reality of these wounds is, by and large, an essential part of their healing. Trying to escape life’s wounds by heading off to Solla Sollew ‘where they have no troubles, at least very few’ isn’t going to get anyone that far in the long-term, because troubles in life are not optional.
17 April 2008
river tragedy
The following cartoon in today's The Press is a fine example of how we should respond to the tragic loss of six 16 year olds and their teacher in the waters of the Mangatapopo River, in the central North Island this week. While there is a great deal of hand-wringing about why such things happen, and while there will be the necessary enquiries as to whether the right safety precautions were in place, and while many will look for someone to blame (the usual human practice of seeking a scapegoat), Mike Moreu captured something about what we can do now that needs few words...
[see this and other cartoons by Moreu on http://www.stuff.co.nz/693207a17217.html]
[see this and other cartoons by Moreu on http://www.stuff.co.nz/693207a17217.html]
Leunig on Anzac Day
Michael Leunig usually reserves his words for the characters in his wonderful cartoons - but a few years back he wrote an opinion article for Anzac Day in the Melbourne Age newspaper. I uncovered it this week - it is worth a read...
Here's a snippet:
"Anzac Day, it seems, must now be done with bluster, hoopla and media hypnotism. Like the landing and the campaign itself, there is something appalling about this in the eyes of many Australians new and old - some disgraceful misuse of humanity by the wielders of political and economic power."
And I cannot resist another snippet, as he has a go at the appalling Onward Christian Soldiers hymn that in 20 years in ministry I have never chosen for a service (though once someone else chose it and I had to put up with it)...
"Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before.
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe; Forward into battle see his banners go!" This drab, common little hymn, this melodramatic Anglo jihad song was taught to us in the 1950s, and in Sunday school or religious instruction class we were often heard singing it. The volume and gusto we usually displayed came from the intuitive belief that if we sang loudly and vigorously enough we would somehow have the choral momentum to go the distance and get through it quickly - a bit like running fast over hot coals.
To sing it on the back foot might mean that the song would become so feeble as to break down and groan to a halt, leaving us stranded forever in the dull wasteland of its meaningless words.
The lyrics seemed to be more about a rampaging gang of morons than a wandering prophet who espoused radical love.
My grandfather Lloyd Campbell Stewart fought in Italy in 1943-45. He returned but said little - my father recalls that he came back a different man - dark hair replaced with grey - but more than that, distant. On Anzac Day I want to remember the cost and sacrifice without glorifying warfare. I believe that war is ugly and dehumanizing - a denial of God's creativity. Even though at times a stand has to be taken...
Read more...
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/04/26/1177459869956.html
Here's a snippet:
"Anzac Day, it seems, must now be done with bluster, hoopla and media hypnotism. Like the landing and the campaign itself, there is something appalling about this in the eyes of many Australians new and old - some disgraceful misuse of humanity by the wielders of political and economic power."
And I cannot resist another snippet, as he has a go at the appalling Onward Christian Soldiers hymn that in 20 years in ministry I have never chosen for a service (though once someone else chose it and I had to put up with it)...
"Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before.
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe; Forward into battle see his banners go!" This drab, common little hymn, this melodramatic Anglo jihad song was taught to us in the 1950s, and in Sunday school or religious instruction class we were often heard singing it. The volume and gusto we usually displayed came from the intuitive belief that if we sang loudly and vigorously enough we would somehow have the choral momentum to go the distance and get through it quickly - a bit like running fast over hot coals.
To sing it on the back foot might mean that the song would become so feeble as to break down and groan to a halt, leaving us stranded forever in the dull wasteland of its meaningless words.
The lyrics seemed to be more about a rampaging gang of morons than a wandering prophet who espoused radical love.
My grandfather Lloyd Campbell Stewart fought in Italy in 1943-45. He returned but said little - my father recalls that he came back a different man - dark hair replaced with grey - but more than that, distant. On Anzac Day I want to remember the cost and sacrifice without glorifying warfare. I believe that war is ugly and dehumanizing - a denial of God's creativity. Even though at times a stand has to be taken...
Read more...
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/04/26/1177459869956.html
03 April 2008
artistic scary facts
I've just found the following site 'Running the Numbers. An American Self-Portrait' by Chris Jordan, where he depicts the reality of waste in massive displays that are made up of the thing he is talking about. Sounds complicated but click below and all will be revealed.
Depicted here are two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US every five minutes - the second two images are zoomed in.
28 March 2008
Good old Huckabee
QUOTE OF THE WEEK [from Sojourners]
As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, "That's a terrible statement," I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think that you have to cut some slack. And I'm going to be probably the only conservative in America who's going to say something like this, but I'm just telling you: We've got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told, "You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can't sit out there with everyone else. There's a separate waiting room in the doctor's office. Here's where you sit on the bus." And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had ... more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.
- Mike Huckabee, offering his perspective on the preaching of Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, "That's a terrible statement," I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think that you have to cut some slack. And I'm going to be probably the only conservative in America who's going to say something like this, but I'm just telling you: We've got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told, "You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can't sit out there with everyone else. There's a separate waiting room in the doctor's office. Here's where you sit on the bus." And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had ... more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.
- Mike Huckabee, offering his perspective on the preaching of Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
26 March 2008
Split Enz in Christchurch
And a few days ago we took my old school friends Tony and Carolyn Bunting to see Split Enz in the Westpac Centre in Christchurch. What a night! The band were in great form - playing all those songs that we grew up with as if they were still 25 years younger! I had all of their records from the True Colours/Frenzy era onwards but had never seen them live. We were dazzled by the set, lighting and costumes (thanks to Noel Crombie's brilliance) but the musicianship was the highlight... brilliant keyboards, guitar, bass and drumming and then the Finn's singing. It was good to see Neil Finn playing in the band that formed him - he and Tim Finn were a great tandem act - in Split Enz they both offered as much as each other, whereas since then Neil's light has shone brightest.
It was also fun being in an audience of people predominantly my age and older! The opening band was The Phoenix Foundation a rising star in the NZ music scene who I hadn't really heard before.
How spoilt we are - Crowded House in November and Split Enz in March - awesome!
Juno
Anne and I watched the movie Juno yesterday (before the movies stopped showing it!). It was great! It dealt with the serious issues of teenage pregnancy, infertility, parenting, and what makes for a good relationship with humour and grace. It didn't seem to be like most American movies which can at times seem a bit too far removed from reality or the script a bit corny. This could have been set in NZ or Australia given the style, the undergirding humour and the gentle way the issues were handled.
We enjoyed seeing Alison Janney (CJ in The West Wing) in a different role as Juno's stepmother. Both the parents in the movie modelled something very good - a few deep breaths, seeing the lighter side of what loomed as a dark situation, cna being slow to judge and quick to care... good stuff! Highly recommended!
We enjoyed seeing Alison Janney (CJ in The West Wing) in a different role as Juno's stepmother. Both the parents in the movie modelled something very good - a few deep breaths, seeing the lighter side of what loomed as a dark situation, cna being slow to judge and quick to care... good stuff! Highly recommended!
22 March 2008
Barack Obama takes us to a greater threshold
Obama's recent speech on race issues and politics could have just been a defence of his different views to his pastor or worse, using his pastor as a scapegoat - a political discard (Easter revisited!) - instead he opens up a whole new dimension of how everyone needs to give some thought to where next and how people want to be... it is a powerful speech written by Obama himself - no speech-writers here... thus we gain a great insight into his heart...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/18/obama-race-speech-read-t_n_92077.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/18/obama-race-speech-read-t_n_92077.html
20 March 2008
an idea for Easter that sounds reasonable!
Last year some people from my church presented me with this little card they picked up in England - facetiously suggesting that it might be an idea around here! I tried it out but there were no takers! But this is a new year - a new Easter...
19 March 2008
Holy Week
There is a green hill far away,
Outside a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified,
Who died to save us all.
We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains He had to bear;
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.
11 March 2008
Vanuatu Truck Purchase
THE EBULE TRAINING CENTRE
IN PORT VILA, VANUATU HAS A NEW
TRUCK!
Rob Meier (pictured with a couple of students) recently purchased a Citroen diesel 1.9 litre, 2002 model with 78,000 km on the clock. It has a 3 month mechanical warranty and drives like a dream. It is very multifunctional with room enough for full size sheets of plywood lying flat. The cost was 1.350 million vatu, and rego and warrant a further 112,000vt. This leaves sufficient money for the insurance and maintenance for the next year.
Thanks for your help!
Once again it has been proved that anything is possible when a few people get together. We are very grateful for the support from seventy-two households, churches or businesses. We are reminded of Jesus sending out 70 (or 72) saying: “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.” We risked asking, and the harvest was plentiful! Well done!
Martin & Anne Stewart March 2008
IN PORT VILA, VANUATU HAS A NEW
TRUCK!
Rob Meier (pictured with a couple of students) recently purchased a Citroen diesel 1.9 litre, 2002 model with 78,000 km on the clock. It has a 3 month mechanical warranty and drives like a dream. It is very multifunctional with room enough for full size sheets of plywood lying flat. The cost was 1.350 million vatu, and rego and warrant a further 112,000vt. This leaves sufficient money for the insurance and maintenance for the next year.
Thanks for your help!
Once again it has been proved that anything is possible when a few people get together. We are very grateful for the support from seventy-two households, churches or businesses. We are reminded of Jesus sending out 70 (or 72) saying: “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.” We risked asking, and the harvest was plentiful! Well done!
Martin & Anne Stewart March 2008
26 February 2008
rubbish free
I've just been reading www.rubbishfreeyear.co.nz/ - a Christchurch couple attempting to live rubbish free all year. They offer great tips for recycling, avoiding waste etc. They have hens - we've been thinking about getting some as well as we try to live more simply.
who looks?
In the latest magazine of Spanz (my denominational magazine which can also be viewed online at http://www.presbyterian.org.nz/) my colleague Fyfe Blair (from Highgate, Dunedin days) and I contributed some ideas about blogging - you can read the article here: http://www.presbyterian.org.nz/4800.0.html.
I am rather cautious about the whole concept of blogging and even more so after reading Ben Elton's latest and excellent novel Blind Faith. Elton exposes how many of the things of our culture can be taken too far, get too serious, be too personally invasive etc etc.
In the last week I've had a couple of encouraging emails from overseas ministers who say they enjoy my blog - which is encouraging (though I have no idea how they found their way to it). But I do wonder how many people do look, and whether those who do might have any suggestions about what kind of content they enjoy and would like more of.
Would you dare to email me martin@ststephens.co.nz or hit the comment header below and share a thought?
I am rather cautious about the whole concept of blogging and even more so after reading Ben Elton's latest and excellent novel Blind Faith. Elton exposes how many of the things of our culture can be taken too far, get too serious, be too personally invasive etc etc.
In the last week I've had a couple of encouraging emails from overseas ministers who say they enjoy my blog - which is encouraging (though I have no idea how they found their way to it). But I do wonder how many people do look, and whether those who do might have any suggestions about what kind of content they enjoy and would like more of.
Would you dare to email me martin@ststephens.co.nz or hit the comment header below and share a thought?
24 February 2008
address at rochester & rutherford halls
I've picked up the chaplaincy responsibility at R & R Halls - a student residential college at Canterbury University. We had our commencement service and meal last Thursday. I gave the following address on freedom and boundaries, mentioning among other things a reference to Yann Martel's Life of Pi and the outcome of the Tea Ropati rape trial...
I wonder how you are going as you settle into life in Christchurch, at University and at R&R in particular.
Because of talking with you tonight I’ve thought a lot about my own experience starting at university – living in a hall and what it was like (Knox College in Dunedin for me).
Actually I revelled in the residential hall experience – after a few days of adjustment that is. I recall dealing with the competing feelings of excitement at the great adventure of it all, along with the grief associated with moving away from a life I had known and enjoyed… everything had changed…
I think home-sickness is a lot about the grief associated with letting go what was good and safe and secure… it affects people differently because some people are more attached to the life of home than others…
In my observation, come the second weekend away, almost all home-sickness finds its rightful place – not so overwhelming, more a gentle reminder that you are loved and you are missed and that whatever this place becomes, there is always another place called home.
Mostly I recall the sense of freedom associated with shifting away and going to university. It was great – I had entered another world with significantly fewer constraints – if I was absent from something no one checked up on me – if I wanted to go out I could – if there was something on that I wanted to go to I did.
Are you enjoying that freedom?
But I also recall the sense of security that went along with that freedom because of where I lived – the security of knowing where my next meal was coming from – the comfort of a warm place to sleep at night surrounded by my things – the sanctuary of being in a community of peers, many of whom I got to know and enjoy and whose support I valued.
As much as I revelled in the freedom of being at university, I also valued the boundaries that were in my life, especially because of being in a hostel. I could go out but there was always a base to head back to.
That’s the strange thing about freedom – it seems to need boundaries around it for it to exist.
I’ll try and explain.
There’s a great little novel by Yann Martel called Life of Pi. Have you read it? It’s mostly about a boy who ends up on a lifeboat with 227 days with a tiger named Richard Parker. Pi’s father owned a zoo in India and they were relocating to another country when the ship sunk. The bit about freedom that I found fascinating was Pi’s observation about whether the animals in the zoo were freer in the wild or in the zoo. He observed that in the zoo the animals could relax in a way that they never would in the wild. Surrounded by fences they were free of the threat of predators and free of the worry over their next meal. Zoo life was almost stress-free for these animals – and they generally lived much longer because of it.
I think it was the same with my children – by having some rules and boundaries they have been able to be free to grow without great stress in their lives. They have known lines that are not to be crossed (mostly for their safety and my sanity), and they have known who is in charge, and as they have grown those boundaries have loosened as they have been ready for more independence. Around me at times have been other parents who have not provided such boundaries – their children act out, always seemed to be over-tired, and many of them struggled among their peers and in their schooling. They were stressed. Why? Because those kids were in charge before they were mature enough to handle the responsibility – those kids were in charge, whereas the adults should have been.
What do you get if life has no boundaries? Anarchy. Of course, every so often the boundaries need to be challenged. That’s the problem with boundaries – the fences can get too high and too unyielding and they begin to oppress people. But if there are no boundaries then people have no security – no safe-guards and no freedom.
I don’t know if you are familiar with the 10 Commandments [Exodus 20:2–17 and Deuteronomy 5:6–21]. The ‘thou shalt not’s’ of the Old Testament. For a long time I kind of resented the way they were used in the church as a kind of stick to beat people around with. But lately I’ve come to understand their role as being the boundaries for human freedom. Kind of like a fence that we can live within and be free. The commandments were given to Israel when they were in the desert having escaped enslavement in Egypt and before they entered the Promised Land. These boundaries were about how the people could be truly free in their new land and how they could achieve that freedom by being attentive to how they were before God and before each other.
I want to suggest that if there are not some good boundaries in place in your new life in Christchurch then you will be vulnerable to some things that might cause you considerable harm and distress and work to rob you of your freedom.
I don’t know if you caught up with the outcome of the Tea Ropati trial a week or two ago. He was acquitted of a rape charge. It appears that the woman who had laid the complaint of rape was grossly intoxicated and in a blackout phase (which doesn’t mean she was comatosed but rather that she could function but without any clear memory of what was going on). But it also appears that Ropati was aware of that state and still pursued a sexual encounter with her.
Was it rape? No, the court determined. But was it honourable on Ropati’s part? No, but there is no law against being dishonourable. Was the woman free? Hang no, she was incredibly vulnerable – very at risk, and fundamentally she put herself into the position where it was unclear whether the sex was consensual or not. She didn’t have appropriate boundaries in her life. But neither did Ropati – who also had a partner and family. Both of them have a lot to think about.
The Apostle Paul had given thought to the freedom that he experienced in Jesus Christ. He saw that once he had been a slave to a life of having to get everything right in his own strength – and he had even overseen the killing of followers of this Jesus thinking that he was right. But it all changed for him in knowing Jesus.
“It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life,” he wrote to the church in the region of Galatia (modern day Turkey). “Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?”
My prayer is that as you enter this new season in your lives and enter into the adventure of it, that you will also find your security and thereby your freedom in some of the boundaries offered to you in the discipline of study, the loyalty of new friendships, and especially in your life in this Hall. Keep yourselves safe and God bless you and keep you! Amen.
I wonder how you are going as you settle into life in Christchurch, at University and at R&R in particular.
Because of talking with you tonight I’ve thought a lot about my own experience starting at university – living in a hall and what it was like (Knox College in Dunedin for me).
Actually I revelled in the residential hall experience – after a few days of adjustment that is. I recall dealing with the competing feelings of excitement at the great adventure of it all, along with the grief associated with moving away from a life I had known and enjoyed… everything had changed…
I think home-sickness is a lot about the grief associated with letting go what was good and safe and secure… it affects people differently because some people are more attached to the life of home than others…
In my observation, come the second weekend away, almost all home-sickness finds its rightful place – not so overwhelming, more a gentle reminder that you are loved and you are missed and that whatever this place becomes, there is always another place called home.
Mostly I recall the sense of freedom associated with shifting away and going to university. It was great – I had entered another world with significantly fewer constraints – if I was absent from something no one checked up on me – if I wanted to go out I could – if there was something on that I wanted to go to I did.
Are you enjoying that freedom?
But I also recall the sense of security that went along with that freedom because of where I lived – the security of knowing where my next meal was coming from – the comfort of a warm place to sleep at night surrounded by my things – the sanctuary of being in a community of peers, many of whom I got to know and enjoy and whose support I valued.
As much as I revelled in the freedom of being at university, I also valued the boundaries that were in my life, especially because of being in a hostel. I could go out but there was always a base to head back to.
That’s the strange thing about freedom – it seems to need boundaries around it for it to exist.
I’ll try and explain.
There’s a great little novel by Yann Martel called Life of Pi. Have you read it? It’s mostly about a boy who ends up on a lifeboat with 227 days with a tiger named Richard Parker. Pi’s father owned a zoo in India and they were relocating to another country when the ship sunk. The bit about freedom that I found fascinating was Pi’s observation about whether the animals in the zoo were freer in the wild or in the zoo. He observed that in the zoo the animals could relax in a way that they never would in the wild. Surrounded by fences they were free of the threat of predators and free of the worry over their next meal. Zoo life was almost stress-free for these animals – and they generally lived much longer because of it.
I think it was the same with my children – by having some rules and boundaries they have been able to be free to grow without great stress in their lives. They have known lines that are not to be crossed (mostly for their safety and my sanity), and they have known who is in charge, and as they have grown those boundaries have loosened as they have been ready for more independence. Around me at times have been other parents who have not provided such boundaries – their children act out, always seemed to be over-tired, and many of them struggled among their peers and in their schooling. They were stressed. Why? Because those kids were in charge before they were mature enough to handle the responsibility – those kids were in charge, whereas the adults should have been.
What do you get if life has no boundaries? Anarchy. Of course, every so often the boundaries need to be challenged. That’s the problem with boundaries – the fences can get too high and too unyielding and they begin to oppress people. But if there are no boundaries then people have no security – no safe-guards and no freedom.
I don’t know if you are familiar with the 10 Commandments [Exodus 20:2–17 and Deuteronomy 5:6–21]. The ‘thou shalt not’s’ of the Old Testament. For a long time I kind of resented the way they were used in the church as a kind of stick to beat people around with. But lately I’ve come to understand their role as being the boundaries for human freedom. Kind of like a fence that we can live within and be free. The commandments were given to Israel when they were in the desert having escaped enslavement in Egypt and before they entered the Promised Land. These boundaries were about how the people could be truly free in their new land and how they could achieve that freedom by being attentive to how they were before God and before each other.
I want to suggest that if there are not some good boundaries in place in your new life in Christchurch then you will be vulnerable to some things that might cause you considerable harm and distress and work to rob you of your freedom.
I don’t know if you caught up with the outcome of the Tea Ropati trial a week or two ago. He was acquitted of a rape charge. It appears that the woman who had laid the complaint of rape was grossly intoxicated and in a blackout phase (which doesn’t mean she was comatosed but rather that she could function but without any clear memory of what was going on). But it also appears that Ropati was aware of that state and still pursued a sexual encounter with her.
Was it rape? No, the court determined. But was it honourable on Ropati’s part? No, but there is no law against being dishonourable. Was the woman free? Hang no, she was incredibly vulnerable – very at risk, and fundamentally she put herself into the position where it was unclear whether the sex was consensual or not. She didn’t have appropriate boundaries in her life. But neither did Ropati – who also had a partner and family. Both of them have a lot to think about.
The Apostle Paul had given thought to the freedom that he experienced in Jesus Christ. He saw that once he had been a slave to a life of having to get everything right in his own strength – and he had even overseen the killing of followers of this Jesus thinking that he was right. But it all changed for him in knowing Jesus.
“It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life,” he wrote to the church in the region of Galatia (modern day Turkey). “Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?”
My prayer is that as you enter this new season in your lives and enter into the adventure of it, that you will also find your security and thereby your freedom in some of the boundaries offered to you in the discipline of study, the loyalty of new friendships, and especially in your life in this Hall. Keep yourselves safe and God bless you and keep you! Amen.
22 February 2008
So long Madge
Madge Allsop has died.
Actress Emily Perry, who played Dame Edna Everidge's glum-faced, brow-beaten bridesmaid, died in an English retirement home on Wednesday, aged 100.
Barry Humphries (aka Dame Edna) commented that he thought if Dame Edna was to pay tribute, she'd say: "I'd wish I'd been nicer to her."
I have from time to time wondered if a Madge Allsop-type figure sitting near the pulpit of most preachers would be a good foil for those times when the preacher is a bit excessive and over-the-top. To have a Madge sitting deadpan and unresponsive would be the perfect foil - a counter-measure to any flights of ego.
In her blankness Madge was a perfect foil to Dame Edna's flambouyance - a reminder that some balance helps the world go around as it should.
08 February 2008
great site
I've just linked up with free range studios and their stunning series on YouTube: "The Story of Stuff" - my friend Bruce Hamill pointed me in that direction, and in the direction of an acquainatnce Jolyon White who is attempting to live on $1 a day in Dunedin starting 5 Feb. You can track him by hitting: http://www.onedollaraday.net.nz
http://www.youtube.com/Freerangestudios
http://www.youtube.com/Freerangestudios
31 January 2008
a quote from Sojourners Community
The Creator goes off on one wild, specific tangent after another, or millions simultaneously, with an exuberance that would seem to be unwarranted, and with an abandoned energy sprung from an unfathomable font. What is going on here? The point of the dragonfly’s terrible lip, the giant water bug, birdsong, or the beautiful dazzle and flash of sunlighted minnows, is not that it all fits together like clockwork—for it doesn’t, particularly, not even inside the goldfish bowl—but that it all flows so freely wild, like the creek, that it all surges in such a free fringed tangle. Freedom is the world’s water and weather, the world’s nourishment freely given, its soil and sap: and the creator loves pizzazz.
- Annie Dillard Teaching a Stone to Talk
- Annie Dillard Teaching a Stone to Talk
29 January 2008
Bernard's poem
My friend Bernard Thornton writes poems - the ones I see are often related to conversations we have - he picks up something and takes it somewhere special. His latest came through a couple of weeks ago and he wasn't unhappy about it appearing in the blog...
Disciple
For our New Year’s resolution
let us agree
to find new ways
of letting things
enter us
shoals
simply having the faith
to put out our nets
without question
without anxiety concerning outcomes
let us be ready
standing quietly
patiently
at the edge of things
listening looking
Bernard Thornton
Disciple
For our New Year’s resolution
let us agree
to find new ways
of letting things
enter us
shoals
simply having the faith
to put out our nets
without question
without anxiety concerning outcomes
let us be ready
standing quietly
patiently
at the edge of things
listening looking
Bernard Thornton
Barack Obama
Anne and I are big fans of Barack Obama - the attached speech on reconciling faith and politcs from 2006 is very interesting... we hope he makes it this year but are nervous about monsters with guns in the land of polarisations.
Power, madness & victory Part 2
the rant on power etc from last Tuesday turned into the following sermon by Sunday...
http://www.ststephens.co.nz/ministry/sermons/collection/20080127.1201313698.php
http://www.ststephens.co.nz/ministry/sermons/collection/20080127.1201313698.php
folly of our ways
Foolishness
by Bertrand Russell
Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all; we have chosen, instead, to have overwork for some and starvation for others. Hitherto we have continued to be as energetic as we were before there were machines; in this we have been foolish, but there is no reason to go on being foolish forever.
Source: In Praise of Idleness
from: inward/outward
by Bertrand Russell
Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all; we have chosen, instead, to have overwork for some and starvation for others. Hitherto we have continued to be as energetic as we were before there were machines; in this we have been foolish, but there is no reason to go on being foolish forever.
Source: In Praise of Idleness
from: inward/outward
26 January 2008
Thoughts on the church and power
I'm enjoying receiving daily 'thoughts' from the 'inward/outward' site of the Church of the Savior in Washington DC. You even get a chance to interact! Here's one thought they sent a couple of days ago and my interaction - these can be viewed at http://www.inwardoutward.org/?p=620
Moving From Talk to PowerWritten by admin January 24th, 2008 in on the way
By John Perkins
If we as Christians can see the issues of our day—the poverty, the racism, war and injustice—and if we can use the skills and resources that we get from our training at school or on the job, and if we can really be open to being equipped by the Spirit of God, then we will be used. We must lie on our beds at night and wrestle with how we can individually and collectively bring our faith from talk to power, how we can bring our faith and works to bear on the real issues of human need.
I believe that right now we are facing a most difficult time in history. We are discovering that old strategies have failed and that the new ones, or rediscovered ones, will not let us hold onto our old lifestyles.
Source: A Quiet Revolution
and...
Martin Stewart Jan 24th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Parts of John’s words work for me and other parts cause concern - without a doubt he is right to say that our faith should move to action. But what kind of action. His use of the word power (instead of action) makes me nervous. Being a Power is not the calling of the church - rather we are to call the powers to account and remind them of their vocation which is to serve. Excellent work on this has been done by Marva Dawn in recent times, and the likes of Jacques Ellul and William Stringfellow in the past 50 years. If we become a power and powerful then we will oppress, we will cause injustice, etc. Our posture before the world is that of Christ - who acted, spoke out and exposed the powers, and then submitted to them. He never called us to power, but to serve.
Moving From Talk to PowerWritten by admin January 24th, 2008 in on the way
By John Perkins
If we as Christians can see the issues of our day—the poverty, the racism, war and injustice—and if we can use the skills and resources that we get from our training at school or on the job, and if we can really be open to being equipped by the Spirit of God, then we will be used. We must lie on our beds at night and wrestle with how we can individually and collectively bring our faith from talk to power, how we can bring our faith and works to bear on the real issues of human need.
I believe that right now we are facing a most difficult time in history. We are discovering that old strategies have failed and that the new ones, or rediscovered ones, will not let us hold onto our old lifestyles.
Source: A Quiet Revolution
and...
Martin Stewart Jan 24th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Parts of John’s words work for me and other parts cause concern - without a doubt he is right to say that our faith should move to action. But what kind of action. His use of the word power (instead of action) makes me nervous. Being a Power is not the calling of the church - rather we are to call the powers to account and remind them of their vocation which is to serve. Excellent work on this has been done by Marva Dawn in recent times, and the likes of Jacques Ellul and William Stringfellow in the past 50 years. If we become a power and powerful then we will oppress, we will cause injustice, etc. Our posture before the world is that of Christ - who acted, spoke out and exposed the powers, and then submitted to them. He never called us to power, but to serve.
23 January 2008
Prayer
A man prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realized that prayer is listening.
- Søren KierkegaardChristian Discourses
- Søren KierkegaardChristian Discourses
Power, madness & victory
Today's news... kind of bleak really - that five top military advisors to Nato and the US are promoting the idea of pre-emptive nuclear strikes as a way of the West protecting their way of life and dealing with other countries that are going down the nuclear weapons road. Great! Here is the way to handle people different from us - hit them with the very thing we want to discourage them from having! Yeah right! Why is the military option always the only option? In what ways does escalation and threat prevent a repsonse of escalation and threat?
God help us!
I popped onto the website of The Press the Christchurch daily, and here is a fairly sad list of what else is going on...
More World Stories
Zimbabwe opposition challenges protest ban
Sick Indonesian man has bird flu
Russia to investigate opposition challenger
Militants kill five Pakistani troops
Chess champion Bobby Fischer buried in Iceland
Transport problems persist in flooded UK
No peace deal if Israel keeps building
Diana bodyguard to reveal details of her final moments
Double killing shocks Tonga
Israel agrees to ease Gaza blockade after protests
Italy govt wobbles as party withdraws support
US White House contenders celebrate King legacy
Musharraf pledges free elections
Beijing denies 10 deaths at Olympics stadium
Heavy rains kill 17 canoeing on Zambia lake
Parliament challenges Brown on EU treaty
Bomber kills 15 at funeral in northern Iraq
Israeli blockade deepens hardship in Gaza
Security breach after UK defence ministry laptop stolen
Ukraine family seeking asylum saved from Swiss Alps
Kenya condemns opposition 'sabotage' plan
France's oldest man - a WW1 vet - dies
Top Fiji businessman slams military regime
Graffitists swept to death in Sydney drain
Nationalist ahead in first round Serb president vote
New pictures of Madeleine 'suspect' released
Metal detectors to fight knife crime in British schools
McCain, Clinton look to next White House battle
Lights go out in Gaza as power plant shuts down
Man dies after police taser gun shot
Cambodian police block Mia Farrow's rally
McCain expects to do well in Florida
Japan follows Europe by tapping offshore wind for power
Three killed in Kenya clashes, opposition defiant
Pakistan forces press attack on militant stronghold
Georgia, Russia pledge better ties at inauguration
Mountain searched after Angolan plane crash
Sometimes it is getting hard to breathe and I need to go up for air...
I subscribe to a daily 'thought' from the Church of the Savior in Washington and got the air I needed today from these words of William Stringfellow (one of my heroes)
"It is worse than you think it is and you are freer than you think you are. The powers are raging beyond your control and they are already overcome in Christ. The division is an uncrossable spiritual chasm and it's been crossed."
Source: Conference on Religion and Race, Chicago, 1963
We Christians live into another reality - the victory won and the kingdom coming... it is our Christ-given, hopeful, radical posture before ther world with all its travail and woe... "God help us, God give me hope. Amen."
http://inwardoutward.org/
God help us!
I popped onto the website of The Press the Christchurch daily, and here is a fairly sad list of what else is going on...
More World Stories
Zimbabwe opposition challenges protest ban
Sick Indonesian man has bird flu
Russia to investigate opposition challenger
Militants kill five Pakistani troops
Chess champion Bobby Fischer buried in Iceland
Transport problems persist in flooded UK
No peace deal if Israel keeps building
Diana bodyguard to reveal details of her final moments
Double killing shocks Tonga
Israel agrees to ease Gaza blockade after protests
Italy govt wobbles as party withdraws support
US White House contenders celebrate King legacy
Musharraf pledges free elections
Beijing denies 10 deaths at Olympics stadium
Heavy rains kill 17 canoeing on Zambia lake
Parliament challenges Brown on EU treaty
Bomber kills 15 at funeral in northern Iraq
Israeli blockade deepens hardship in Gaza
Security breach after UK defence ministry laptop stolen
Ukraine family seeking asylum saved from Swiss Alps
Kenya condemns opposition 'sabotage' plan
France's oldest man - a WW1 vet - dies
Top Fiji businessman slams military regime
Graffitists swept to death in Sydney drain
Nationalist ahead in first round Serb president vote
New pictures of Madeleine 'suspect' released
Metal detectors to fight knife crime in British schools
McCain, Clinton look to next White House battle
Lights go out in Gaza as power plant shuts down
Man dies after police taser gun shot
Cambodian police block Mia Farrow's rally
McCain expects to do well in Florida
Japan follows Europe by tapping offshore wind for power
Three killed in Kenya clashes, opposition defiant
Pakistan forces press attack on militant stronghold
Georgia, Russia pledge better ties at inauguration
Mountain searched after Angolan plane crash
Sometimes it is getting hard to breathe and I need to go up for air...
I subscribe to a daily 'thought' from the Church of the Savior in Washington and got the air I needed today from these words of William Stringfellow (one of my heroes)
"It is worse than you think it is and you are freer than you think you are. The powers are raging beyond your control and they are already overcome in Christ. The division is an uncrossable spiritual chasm and it's been crossed."
Source: Conference on Religion and Race, Chicago, 1963
We Christians live into another reality - the victory won and the kingdom coming... it is our Christ-given, hopeful, radical posture before ther world with all its travail and woe... "God help us, God give me hope. Amen."
http://inwardoutward.org/
15 January 2008
Sir Edmund Hillary
I was writing to a correspondent from North Carolina yesterday and mentioned the following about Sir Edmund Hillary's death: "We are mourning the loss of Sir Edmund Hillary over here – he died last Friday… he kind of epitomizes what kind of people we like to think we [NZers] are… he was humble and generous to the poor… not a bad role model really!
The Maori people of New Zealand talk of the death of a significant person as being like a mighty Totara tree falling… it makes a big noise and leaves a huge gap in the landscape. That’s how it feels here."
One of the early images of Sir Edmund epitomises the man... while he is credited with being the first to summit Mt Everest, he actually was there because of a partnership with the local Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay... that partnership proved in time to be more than a means to an end to get up the mountain, it became a partnership with a people. Sir Ed used the prestige bestowed on him to serve the impoverished Nepalese people. That's the kind of person I admire. I have less and less time for people who use their fame to satiate their egos. Sir Ed's humility was one of his most endearing qualities.
Here are few quotes of his that illustrate that humility:
"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."
"People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things."
"You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things – to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated."
Perhaps the best one is his thought that it wasn't so much that he conquered the mountain but that the mountain relented to let them up.
The Maori people of New Zealand talk of the death of a significant person as being like a mighty Totara tree falling… it makes a big noise and leaves a huge gap in the landscape. That’s how it feels here."
One of the early images of Sir Edmund epitomises the man... while he is credited with being the first to summit Mt Everest, he actually was there because of a partnership with the local Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay... that partnership proved in time to be more than a means to an end to get up the mountain, it became a partnership with a people. Sir Ed used the prestige bestowed on him to serve the impoverished Nepalese people. That's the kind of person I admire. I have less and less time for people who use their fame to satiate their egos. Sir Ed's humility was one of his most endearing qualities.
Here are few quotes of his that illustrate that humility:
"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."
"People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things."
"You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things – to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated."
Perhaps the best one is his thought that it wasn't so much that he conquered the mountain but that the mountain relented to let them up.
09 January 2008
Truck progress #15
We are over the $20,000 mark now - $20,810!! Any money over the $20,000 purchase price will be used to enable maintenance - this money will be held in the Global Mission Office. Yesterday we got a donation from a couple who had already donated last month! Great!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)