Second article for The Press

This week my article on joy and humour was published in the 'Good Living' supplement of The Press in Christchurch. I include it in full here until I can find a hyperlink reference to it...

Lighten Up!
Mart the Rev

Christians aren’t always known for their senses of humour. Maybe this comes about from our feeling as if we are a minority who need to make some noise. Maybe it comes from our thinking that we are society’s only moral guardians. Maybe it comes from our thinking that we need to defend God all the time. I’ve noticed that the default position for many followers of Jesus seems to be one of inflexible seriousness. I don’t really know where this idea comes from – maybe some people think that Jesus calls them to be responsible for the faith rather than to simply live it. There’s a U2 line that goes: “Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady” (from the 2008 song Breathe) – I have a feeling that Bono, like me, is trying to encourage followers of Jesus to lighten up.
While there is a serious side to life and following the way of Jesus (and be certain, there will be swags of others who will rattle on about this stuff!), I want to suggest that the posture of Jesus was one of unencumbered playful freedom, and that it would do us all a world of good if our perspectives of him factored this in a lot more! Jesus calls his followers to enjoy life in all its fullness, so let’s make sure that we don’t miss the joy and therefore the life.
I have a collection of artistic images of Jesus ranging from Jesus the revolutionary, to Jesus in agony on the cross. One of the more unusual images I have is of Jesus with his head tilted back roaring with laughter. Why should such an image be so surprising? When you think about it, wasn’t Jesus was a bit of a comedian? Can you picture Jesus smiling with a twinkle in his eye as he confounded his critics by telling stories full of the exuberant abundance of God’s grace? Can you see him chuckling as he told Nicodemus the Pharisee that he must be re-born if he is to get the idea of God’s kingdom, and Nicodemus misinterpreted him by asking: “How can anyone who has grown up re-enter their mother’s womb?” What a picture the Pharisee conjured up! Surely Jesus burst out laughing!
And look at the parables Jesus told, they are full of zany characters in crazy situations who act in exactly the opposite way that we would expect: a shepherd abandons the flock to hunt out one lost lamb and then throws a party; a father gives to his son half of his wealth and then welcomes the penniless boy back with arms wide open and a five-course banquet; a hated foreigner turns out to be the good neighbour; and the tax collector (a crook) rather than the faithful worshipper turns out to be the one who teaches us to not look down our noses.
With Jesus everything is turned on its head: the last become first, the least are made welcome, the lost are found, and the little ones are set up as the best ones to teach us faith.

As Garrison Keillor once said: “God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny.” Maybe we need to lighten up a little!

article for The Press

recently I wrote an article for the local newspaper on 'What's right with the Church'
www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/3584017/whats-right-with-thechurch
It was good to have the opportunity to offer something that celebrates those who find themselves in the middle of the extremes for whom their practical expression of faith is valuable and valued

I'm at risk!

It hit me the other day, there is another person close to me who I would die for if there was something I could do that might prevent his being hurt.

I was holding my grandson Oliver, and I realized that the net of those who I care deeply for has spread.

Now, I don’t know what the odds are of my being killed by putting myself in harms way as a substitute for someone else, I imagine the odds are very low.

But it has just hit me that the odds of this happening have to increase the more my children breed.

Do my children realise what risk they are putting me in if they think of having children?

Oliver is the only grandchild so far – I think I have a good chance of not meeting an unfortunate end protecting him – but I need to talk to my children about what they are doing to my chances of a long life if they have any more children, for I know that if an out of control car was heading towards anyone in my family circle I would do what I could to protect them, even if that meant shielding them from the worst of the impact. I wouldn’t think about it – there wouldn’t be time – I would just do it.

I know I would give my life for any of them because to a degree I already have.

I am sure that my life has already been shortened by a few years through the fear and anxiety I have suffered as my children have weathered the storms of life.

When I am not thinking of my life ending prematurely, because of out of control motor vehicles careering towards them, I figure that a few years less life at the end of my life when I might be frail and more incoherent than I am now might not be the worst thing – so I suffer this possibility accordingly and hope for a good number of years yet.

But the addition of Oliver into the family circle has got me worried. I am now at risk!

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

I think John Oliver is quite wonderful!

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.

Christmas New Year and stuff like that

I found an old message I sent out a few Christmases ago... I've adapted it for now...

I have decided to declare my New Year's resolutions even though I don't do that sort of thing and never intend to keep them anyway - but you never know...
#1 ignore the television for the summer... I totally ignore TV news anyway - I have done for 3 years now and there are no side effects - but there are huge benefits... for instance, I am more pleasant to be around because I no longer argue out loud with the newsreaders about their content, their assumptions and their blatant manipulation of the news in order to entice an audience.
#2 instead of drinking too much, I have decided to drink less more often. (I don't think I drink too much anyway but have decided to make this resolution just in case I am tempted).
#3 befriend dairy farmers. Actually I will only need to befriend one and immediately there will be the thrill of basking in the company of someone who has $800,000 plus surplus money this year. If I earned $800,000 in one year I could move a few mountains, but these people have received on average $800,000 as a bonus payment above the existing record payouts for milk this year - come on you lot... do something amazing with that money!
#4 stage a protest at the cost of cheese, milk, butter and meat. The cheese prices have doubled in the last three years - why? Everywhere you look there is a blimmin cow eating grass. Our water ways are being polluted with the excess nitrates from all the fertiliser applied, the cows fart all the time, and every farm looks the same with huge paddocks and all the trees removed. This has to be bad for the land in the long term... good things in excess always have a cost... so at least can't we get discount milk products??? Soon we will have to import cheese because our local stuff costs too much - how dumb is that when there is a bloody cow wherever you look?
#5 stop swearing
#6 live each day as if it is the last one. This might sound easy to you but it is not for me - it means not wishing any time away (including the shitty things of life) and it means never winning Lotto because I will not invest in it (I know that this is radical counter-culture thing in NZ society, to not believe that something will appear out of nowhere and make my life all better, but I am prepared to stick out in the crowd on this one). Another way of putting this is to live life to the full... each blessed minute... I put this to the test this year when I went to visit the dentist. There I was sitting in the chair watching as the needle approached and saying to myself - live in the moment mate... look for the good, take the pain, wear a gummy smile on your face as you part with a significant proprortion of your weekly income - and hey, it was ok! I have finally found a very competent dentist! (And I will have this to say to my new-found cow farmer friends: "Go to the dentist as soon as possible and you will have only half the pain you usually have because with your big payout you won't notice what happens as you do the tally up at the reception desk!)
#7 make more time to talk with George Bush about why I think his foreign policy is nothing more than fearmongering and doing wease [Rory (see comment below) thinks it is wees but I think he only thinks that way because he is such a small guy] into the wind, and advise him to read Brave New World by Huxley. If he is not available I will set up a meeting with Condolezza Rice and the people standing for election as President. This is very important.
#8 vote Labour in the 2008 election. The signs are there that Labour may struggle to hold office after the election, and as I have a heart for the underdog I will vote for them. Added to this, I still don't detect any heart at all for the underdog in the National Party's policies.
#9 try not to save the world in 2008. You might think this is silly, but to actually step back and trust that God has the salvation thing in hand is a big thing for any Christian. I truly wonder how many people would hear God saying 'Shut up and let me handle this' if they would only shut up and listen to God instead of putting words into God's mouth.
#10 make war less, make love more, stop to smell flowers, smile at children, take a deep breath before responding to fools, and give thanks in all things.

#7 looks do-able but I may struggle with the rest

Elections coming

I'm about to go and take a picture of my colleague Glenn Livingstone's billboard... he is standing for the local community board and the City Council... what is annoying is that he already has a moustache thus it is hard to deface the billboard - not that I have ever done that kind of things before but never before has it been a friend who I can make fun of in this way!

Before I go and get it here's a Leunig cartoon that kind of illustrates the path that politicians take... be careful Glenn! [source: The Age webpage]

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.

Grace & Law

I found this on the naked pastor blog site... he does a few cartoons and this one is ironically true... churches seem to do better when they emphasise rules more than grace.

Maybe it is because the majority of people inclined to an institutional way of expressing their faith are like the idea of certitudes and rules... I'm a grace man myself... I'm inclined to think that God can work stuff out with people without my having to be too hard about defining the parameters or placing limits or making judgements.

I think God is in the door opening business while much of the church's expression seems to be about building walls and securing the doors and windows.

Frederick Buechner makes a good call on grace in his book Wishful Thinking... he defines grace in terms of God's generous unconditional love meaning for us that 'there's nothing you have to do, there's nothing you have to do, there's nothing you have to do.'

So often after I have preached God's unconditional love and grace someone comes up to me and says, yes, but... Why don't we just stop at yes and see what happens? I think that if people get the dimensions of God's 'yes' they will soon want to think about what kind of response they can make... I think God has a way of drawing that out of us without others having to take over as managers!

Ricky Gervais on bbc red nose day

I spotted this on a U2 news site... it pokes a bit of fun at some of the ways celebrities push causes... while still hinting at the worthiness of the causes...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-ia__1d_rM