Two great albums in the CD player...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Study: Dolphins Not So Intelligent On Land

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

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

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

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

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

the size of dolphin brains,

their ability to communicate,

their dexterous fins,

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

their concern for global warming and other global issues,

their ability to laugh at themselves (and us)

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

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

a terrible force and a terrible urgency

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Two more Ben Elton books

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

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

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

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

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

Samaritan Part 2... crowds, bullies & compassion

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

90 years on since WWI's Passchendaele battle

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

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

Harry Potter #5

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

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

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

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

Samaritan sermon part 1

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

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

Coffee with a Conscience

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

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

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

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

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

The lives of others

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

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

The Good Samaritan

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

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

Forgiveness

About 30 of us have just finished four weeks thinking about grace using Philip Yancey's What's so amazing about grace as a guide. The whole area of forgiveness predictably gave us a few difficulties.

One of the questions I asked last night was: "Can you forgive someone who doesn't have a sense that they need to be forgiven?" Through the Gospel lens the answer to all our problems with forgiveness is always 'Yes' - seventy times seven etc etc. But this is never an easy yes...

A friend reminded me this week that forgiveness is usually costly... the one who makes the move to forgive may have to bear the burden for a long time, I think this is especially so if the one forgiven doesn't have a sense that there is anything they have done that needs forgiveness.

One conclusion we did come up with in the group is that forgiveness is a gift... a grace... our struggles with it are set within a broader context... God's gracious pardon of us... with God's help nothing is impossible... even the possibility that someone who considers themselves the most wronged can take the first step.

Here's a quote I found helpful... "Because it goes against human nature, forgiveness must be taught and practiced, as one would practice any difficult craft. 'Forgiveness is not just an occasional act: it is a permanent attitude,' said Martin Luther King Jr. What greater gift could Christians give to the world than the forming of a culture that upholds grace and forgiveness?"

p137 What's so amazing about grace

A Concert for George

Anne and I have been enjoying watching the Concert for George Harrison DVD, borrowed from our neighbours. What a fantastic concert... a remarkable collection of songs from the often under the radar maestro, brilliant musicianship - Eric Clapton in charge with Jeff Lynne. Dhani Harrison, Billy Preston on keyboards, Ringo and Paul... and Anoushka Shankar (Ravi's daughter & Norah Jones' half-sister) on sitar... and the sense of being part of a community grieving the loss of their friend.

My favourite song was the moving 'While my guitar gently weeps' - Eric Clapton was inspirational and clearly grieving as a camera caught him in a private moment looking away from the audience as the song ended... the version of 'Something' was also delightful.

The concert was in 2002, why does it take me five years to catch up?

Best song of all time

I had a wee yarn with Jim Mora on National Radio this afternoon which was a hoot. He has a 'what's the best song of all time?' slot each day after the 1pm news... I got in with U2's With or Without You from the Joshua Tree album.

So what's your choice of best song of all time??? Hit the comment button below and put in your choice! As long as you don't choose anything by Celine Dion I will make the list of replies into a blog in the next while!

I am working with a group of colleagues on a Sunday evening 'service' on the 7th October where we will use the music of U2 in the context of a communion service. One of our working titles is Sunday Bloody Sunday - "Yeah I'd drink bread and wine if there was a church I could receive in." - the title is from a U2 song - the sub-text is a line from their song 'Acrobat'. Keep on the lookout for the big event!!! I will have more details on this blog once they are firmed up!

- Mart the Rev

Sunday looming... on grace & forgiveness

Here's the first bit of this coming week's sermon (draft)...

At the Wednesday night study group we’ve been wrestling with ways to describe God’s grace. It is not an easy thing for Jesus didn’t seek to describe grace theologically but rather live it and tell stories that illumined it. Thus we get an idea of grace through what a collection of stories points to rather than through a simple proposition. One of the definitions offered to the group last Wednesday was this one: ‘Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more, and there is nothing we can do to make God love us less.’ [Philip Yancey in What’s so amazing about grace p71]. One of the hardest things to grasp is the order of things – with God it is grace first and our bit later. Grace is unconditional; there is nothing we have to do in order to make God love us for that is simply how it is with God. But we want to reverse the order – we want to have to prove our worthiness. Take the notion of forgiveness for example – our logic is to forgive someone after they have confessed their wrong – if you acknowledge that you have hurt me then I can be in a position to forgive you. Our logic is ‘if-then’ – if you confess your sins, then I will forgive you. And we apply this logic to how the faith thing works – and get to what all the big evangelists seem to say “If you repent, turn from your ways and confess your sins then God will forgive you.”
However, in the logic of grace, this is all reversed. With Jesus, forgiveness comes first and forgiveness is what enables us to begin living lives accordingly to the ways of God. This is not an ‘if-then’ logic but a ‘because-therefore’ logic – ‘because you have already been forgiven, therefore you are freed to respond with a changed life, a heart that turns to God.’ [Paul J. Nuechterlein, Something to sing about].

Reading 'The First Casualty'

I'm immersed in Ben Elton's novel The First Casualty at the moment - what a great read!

Here's a summary I found... [The First Casualty] "...is a gut-wrenching historical drama which explores some fundamental questions. What is murder? What is justice in the face of unimaginable daily slaughter? And where is the honour in saving a man from the gallows if he is only to be returned to die in a suicidal battle? As the gap between legally-sanctioned and illegal murder becomes evermore blurred, Kingsley quickly learns that the first casualty when war comes is truth. "

And, as I have now finished it, some thoughts of my own.

1. This is the second of Elton's books I have read (I'm a slow starter!) the other was High Society. I found both books got me hooked very quickly, kept me enthralled and both seemed well-researched.

2. the themes in The First Casualty are clever. The morality theme especially... as thing become blurred the conscientious objector becomes involved as a participant in the very thing he objected against. Don't we all? Elton leaves his reader with this unwelcome realisation. Some justification is offered that this is what happens in war, thus the title of the book - but Kingsley recognises that in his work as a policeman he has been part of another kind of war that he cannot any longer agree with in relation to the way that suffragettes and communists had been treated by the law and its agents.

3. some may not like the revisionist nature of his work - it is easier to see the folly of the Great War from this side of it and this distance (and I'm currently enjoying Elton's contribution as a co-writer of the Blackadder 4 series). But I believe that there is no possibility of looking at history through any other means than the eyes we have now... we will always revise history, and we should... if we can get as big a picture on what has happened before us then we might be more attentive to the things that might lead us into another folly - might.

I am looking forward to delving into Elton's nine other novels!

A Tony Campolo story on Grace

Tony Campolo tells about being invited to speak in Honolulu one time and having trouble getting his body to adjust to the ten-hour time shift from his home in Philadelphia. He wound up wide-awake at three o’clock in the morning drinking coffee in an all-night diner. Presently the door opened, and in came about eight women laughing and talking loudly. Campolo soon deduced that they were streetwalkers finished with their evening’s work and relaxing before going home to sleep. One, named Agnes, mentioned to her friend that the next day would be her thirty-ninth birthday.
After the group had left, Campolo got a bright idea. He said to the gruff proprietor behind the counter, “Did you hear that one woman say tomorrow was her birthday? Whaddya say we throw her a party? I’ll come back tomorrow night with some decorations, and let’s surprise her with a cake and everything!”
The man’s wife came out of the kitchen. Both of them said, “That’s a wonderful idea. Let’s do it.”
Twenty-four hours later the little diner was decorated with streamers and balloons. A festive sign was taped to the mirror. The couple had put the word out and a large assortment of night people were gathered. When the prostitutes came in for their usual coffee, the shout went up: Happy Birthday Agnes!”
The woman stood speechless as the singing began. Tears started to roll down her cheeks. Nobody had shown her genuine kindness in years. The owner brought out a birthday cake with candles. Agnes was in such shock that she had to be reminded to blow them out.
She paused again, “Well, cut the cake, Agnes!” the proprietor said.
She finally found words. In a whisper she said, “Please… I just… I just want to keep the cake. I’ll take it to my apartment down the street… just for a couple of days. Please let me keep the cake.”
No one knew how to respond, but no one could think of a reason to refuse her request. So out the door she fled, holding the cake as if it were the Holy Grail.
An awkward silence filled the room. Campolo finally broke in with a bold suggestion: “I have another idea - why don’t we pray?” Without hesitation he began to voice a prayer for Agnes, that God would bless her on her birthday, that God would bring peace into her life and save her from all that troubled her…
At the amen, the diner owner said, “Hey you didn’t tell me you were a preacher? What kind of church do you preach at?”
Campolo thought a moment, cocked his head sideways, and then answered with a grin, “I preach at the kind of church that throws birthday parties for whores at three-thirty in the morning!”
What happened next was the most poignant moment of all. The man squinted at Campolo and announced,
“No… no, you don’t. There is no church like that. I would join a church like that.”
[from The Kingdom of God is a Party by Tony Campolo p3-9]

Service with reflections on Mackenzie Thorpe sculptures

Have a look...
http://www.ststephens.co.nz/ministry/sermons/collection/20070603.1181003987.php

Mackenzie Thorpe

Falling in Love

a sculpture in bronze by Mackenzie Thorpe

Photo by Mart the Rev

There's a fantastic exhibition of four of Mackenzie Thorpe's bronze sculptures at the Christchurch Arts Centre for a couple of months. I'm aiming to build next Sunday's service around the themes they offer as well as preach on the one pictured at the induction of a colleague this Thursday. The exhibits with their bronze curves look fantastic against the neo-Gothic Arts Centre buildings. The exhibition has coincided with the opening of a stunning permanent display of sculptures representing the experience of people suffering from dyslexia just over the road from the Centre. Falling in Love is part of the permanent display. I will post my reflections on the Thorpe sculptures on the St Stephen's website after Sunday.

Thoughtful words from Jim Wallis

Jim Wallis, the inspirational leader of The Sojourners Community, delivered the following inspiring words at Georgetown University on Sunday, May 20 under the title What's Acceptable? What's Possible?
"... what are you going to no longer accept in our world, what will you refuse to tolerate now that you will be making the decisions that matter?
Will it be acceptable to you that 3 billion people in our world today - half of God's children - live on less that $2 per day, that more than 1 billion live on less than $1 per day, that the gap between the life expectancy in the rich places and the poor places in the world is now 40 years, and that 30,000 children globally will die today ... from needless, senseless, and utterly preventable poverty and disease? It's what Bono calls "stupid poverty."
"...What we see now offends us, offends our understanding of the sanctity and dignity of life, offends our notions of fairness and justice, offends our most basic values; it violates our idea of the common good, and starts to tug at our deepest places. We cross the line of unacceptability. We become intolerant of the injustice.
But just changing our notion of what is unacceptable isn't enough, however. We must also change our perception of what is possible.
In that regard, I would encourage each of you to think about your vocation more than just your career. And there is a difference. From the outside, those two tracks may look very much alike, but asking the vocational question rather than just considering the career options will take you much deeper. The key is to ask why you might take one path instead of another - the real reasons you would do something, more than just because you can. The key is to ask who you really are and what you want to become. It is to ask what you believe you are supposed to do...
"Ask where your gifts intersect with the groaning needs of the world - there is your vocation."

You can track the whole speech by clicking the Sojourners link over on the left of this blogpage.