article in Candour

Candour is an on-line journal for people in ministry in the Presbyt Church in NZ - I was editor of it years ago. Recently I was asked to submit an essay on hope in a climate of fear... here is what I came up with...
Fear: the enemy of hope that dances to death’s tune.

As I recall it, Alvin Tofler predicted in his 1970’s book Future Shock that fear and anxiety would be some of the by-products of our crazy fast-changing technological world, with people getting left behind because the future will come at them too fast. It looks like he was right… the proliferation of Prozac and other anti-depressants among people in the so-called developed world would suggest that depression and anxiety are part of the cost of change.
But I wonder if along with fear being a by-product of our peculiar society fear is also being used as a mechanism to manipulate people. Here are a few examples I can think of:
- the fear-mongering about a possible bird flu epidemic. A year or so ago we were ‘done for’ and people were stockpiling tamiflu pills, even though there was next to no evidence that those pills would be able to treat a virus that didn’t yet exist. Why the panic when there wasn’t anything we could do about it anyway?
- the projection of worse-case scenarios as actuality – we saw an example of this last month with President Bush announcing that inaction against Iran will likely result in nuclear holocaust. But more commonly we see this in the use of statistics as a way of projecting the future, and the results are almost always bleak. We even see these worse-case scenarios being used to provoke certain kinds of mission-action in the church. I find this use of statistics to predict the future of the church highly speculative and rather manipulative. A colleague listening to such stuff was reminded of a frequent comment from one of the characters in Dad’s Army who, speaking out of his congenital pessimism, would announce in almost every episode: “We’re doomed Captain Mannering.” Statistics are usually suggest we are doomed – and they get us all scrambling around in a dance of death . I think it was Lloyd Geering who suggested in the 1960’s that the last Presbyterian and Anglican would be meeting to close the door of the last church in the year 2000. Um… not quite, I like to think that God had another idea about that.
- fear of the enemy being used to stimulate nationalism and economic growth. This has been a consistent feature of the way successive United States administrations have behaved since World War II. As I understand it, from my geo-politics studies at university, the US has operated on a war economy since 1941… the economic growth from being almost constantly involved in warring has been astounding, and has, in the eyes of the powers that be, justified hideously large sums being used to manufacture the machinery and armaments of war, as well as popping up to the moon and back. Whether the enemy exists or not isn’t all that important – enemies can be created… (do you remember President Reagan invading Grenada?) Iraq is once such creation. The irony of the first Gulf War was that the missiles being directed at US aircraft by Iraqi forces were made in the US! It turns out that for many years Iraq had been supplied US arms as a buffer against Iran. While I am cautious about conspiracy theories, is it too much to imagine that the first President Bush deliberately left Iraq’s leadership intact for another day when it would be more convenient to invade? But then a problem emerged… there needed to be a reason to invade. Umm… what if we say that Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction? Now we are being told that Vietnam wasn’t so bad, but that it was the leaving of it that was a problem!
- the proliferation of end times theory as fact (the worst of these can be found in the hideous Left Behind novels), and the associated justification of violence, prejudice, intolerance, scape-goating and ignorance, as well as a laziness when it comes to attending to the tasks of making peace, caring for the environment, loving one’s neighbour, etc.

Of course there are many more examples, but what is most disturbing is the complicity of the church in this fear-mongering. I believe that hope is the attitude that Christians are called to exhibit in a fearful world that seems to bow to the triumph of death. Christian hope is not blind optimism or reality avoidance, but a living demonstration of there being a bigger story – a meta-narrative as some theologians describe it.
This big story is the narrative of God’s saving work in the world; the presence of the kingdom of God among us, yet still to come in its fullness; and a living into the reality of the victory of Christ over the powers of this world that seek to dominate us [see Colossians 2:13-15].
I believe that there is an explicit call for the people of God, who find themselves to be strangers in a strange land, to nevertheless live fearlessly, confidently and hopefully in God’s promises [Isaiah 43 etc].
It is our calling as the church of Jesus Christ to demonstrate to the fearful world that there is another way of seeing things for live this side of the incarnation, we live this side of the ministry of Jesus, we live this side of his death on the cross, we live this side of his resurrection and we live this side of his ascension. Thus we live hopefully, not fearfully. We live to the tune of life in its fullness and not to the march of death in all its fearfulness.
William Stringfellow, a lawyer and theologian, offered these words for the church in a world where the powers of fear and death seem to be reigning:
“In the face of death, live humanly. In the middle of chaos, celebrate the Word. Amidst babel… speak the truth. Confront the noise and verbiage and falsehood of death with the truth and potency and efficacy of the Word of God. Know the Word, teach the Word, nurture the Word, preach the Word, defend the Word, incarnate the Word, do the Word, live the Word. And more than that, in the Word of God, expose death and all death’s works and wiles, rebuke lies, cast out demons, exorcise, cleanse the possessed, raise those who are dead in mind and conscience.” [An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land 1973 p143]

on Christian political parties

I've submitted the following letter to the editor of The Press in Christchurch...
Destiny & Future NZ
I believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be reduced to political slogans or a set of policies, thus the notion of Christian political parties bothers me.
Destiny/Future NZ say they want to put families first, bring ‘morals’ into the political arena, and that ‘life means life’ in relation to how we treat violent offenders. But how can this be done in a way that doesn’t a)marginalise people who don’t fit into traditional categories; b) look out for those who are different from those in the Christian party, and c) restore offenders to a meaningful life with the possibility of release being the incentive for the changes they make? Aren’t these also gospel imperatives?
Jesus associated with those who the religious powers of his day marginalised. He challenged those who tried to enshrine God into a set of laws. Jesus never formed a party, instead, he called them to account. Herein lies what Christians can offer in the political arena: a voice among the voices, influence, encouragement, a reminder of what is important, and a challenge when necessary.
I have a few friends in Parliament and a colleague standing for Council who are all Christians. They are good people who I trust to bring an important and necessary gospel-informed perspective to the debates of the day. But they are not there suggesting that the gospel can automatically be turned into policy nor are they saying that their perspective represents what it means to be Christian.

a story I'm thinking of using on Sunday

Christian counselor Dennis Linn tells this wonderful story about how his mind was changed about God. He describes how his image of God was like stern old Uncle George, that Good Old Uncle George was the sort of person that people respected the old fashioned way [raising arm and fist to indicate 'respect' by brute force]. Then he tells this story of how his mind was changed:
One day Hilda came to me crying because her son had tried to commit suicide for the fourth time. She told me that he was involved in prostitution, drug dealing and murder. She ended her list of her son's "big sins" with, "What bothers me most is that my son says he wants nothing to do with God. What will happen to my son if he commits suicide without repenting and wanting nothing to do with God?"
Since at the time my image of God was like Good Old Uncle George, I thought "God will probably send your son to hell." But I didn't want to tell Hilda that. I was glad that my ... training had taught me ... to [instead] ask ..., "What do you think?"
"Well," Hilda replied, "I think that when you die, you appear before the judgment seat of God. If you have lived a good life, God will send you to heaven. If you have lived a bad life, God will send you to hell." [In other words, Hilda's God punishes and rewards. Our image of God has changed much since Moses, has it?!] Sadly, she concluded, "Since my son has lived such a bad life, if he were to die without repenting, God would certainly send him to hell."
Although I tended to agree with her, I didn't want to say, "Right on, Hilda! Your son would probably be sent to hell." I was again grateful for my theological training which taught me a second strategy: when you don't know how to solve a theological problem, then let God solve it. So I said to Hilda, "Close your eyes. Imagine that you are sitting next to the judgment seat of God. Imagine also that your son has died with all these serious sins and without repenting. Your son has just arrived at the judgment seat of God. Squeeze my hand when you can imagine that."
A few minutes later Hilda squeezed my hand. She described to me the entire judgment scene. Then I asked her, "Hilda, how does your son feel?" Hilda answered, "My son feels so lonely and empty." I asked Hilda what she would do. She said, "I want to throw my arms around my son." She lifted her arms and began to cry as she imagined herself holding her son tightly.
Finally, when she had stopped crying, I asked her to look into God's eyes and watch what God wanted to do. God stepped down from the throne, and just as Hilda did, embraced Hilda's son. And the three of them, Hilda, her son, and God, cried together and held one another.
I was stunned. What Hilda taught me in those few minutes is the bottom line of healthy Christian spirituality: God loves us at least as much as the person who loves us the most.
[as told by Paul J. Nuechterlein in a stunning sermon I am going to have to borrow heavily from http://girardianlectionary.net/year_c/proper19c_1995_ser.htm]

Glenn babes

Here he is in all his billboard glory!!!

fridge magnets

And while I'm at it here at St Stephen's we have a little mission to a village in Ethiopia where we help care for 60 elderly people with a modest amount of money, as well as helping the odd village with their water supply. This year as part of the mission report in our Annual Report we are including a fridge magnet for people to stick on their... fridges...

U2 communion thingee

In Christchurch we're working towards a kiwi version of the U2-charist worship service containing music by U2...

A group of us Presbyterians are holding it on 7 October (World Communion Sunday) at 5-45pm in the Hornby Community Presbyterian Church. I've tried to reproduce the poster for the blog...

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]

Emerging from the wilderness

Not only have I not blogged since my return from Vanuatu, but I have been without the internet. Five weeks off-line has been ok actually.

The Vanuatu experience was fantastic - the highlight was the week at Talua Ministry College and the warmth of the people, their generosity and their searching questions. I also enjoyed the snorkelling opportunities.

The night-time dogs and early-morning roosters incited murderous thoughts, and the stolen passport was a bit of a problem but otherwise... it was great!

I am currently reading Chris Crump's story of her 18 years on Nguna Island near Efate where her husband Ken was a minister, doctor, dentist, farmer, mechanic, and whatever else, in the late 1930's to 50's. I knew Chris and Ken and know some of their family as well - the story is all the more interesting because of my trip.

My ten days have nothing on those years of commitment and at times great sacrifice, but it was good to be there and remember them and the many others who have served over the years in that lovely country, as well as make friends with the Meier's and Parkes who are serving over there at the moment.

hey

Halo from Vanuatu
This is the first oportunity I have had to get blog out - getting on line costs quite a bit so... it will be short
Phil and I are having a great time - the weather is warm to hot and fairly dry...
Our first night in Port Vila was below average with all the dogs in the area barking all night... all night, mostly it was one telling the story with others offering encouragement (kind of like what I think Alcoholics Anon meetings are like) and then another would take up with a story... now I know it, dogs do talk... but I wish they didn't!
The next night they did the same but we were more tired so got more sleep but not what we need. I have only had one of those.
We went around Efate Island on Thursday with Rob & Barb Meier - it was great though the road was appaling in places and I forgot to take my camera (it was camouflaged on the sleeping bag!). I included a picture from the air of Havannah harbour where the US Pacific Fleet was stationed in WWII - quite a place.
The people are lovely - warm, friendly and safe to be around. The local food is quite nice.
We have been snorkeling at Hideaway Island...- the fish are stunning and our trip out a bit where the fish around us were sometimes a metre long easily rivaled the Barrier Reef trip of a few years ago.
I also got to deliver the 2000+ condoms that St Stephen's people collected to the Family Health Centre - they were very pleased with us!
I was scheduled to preach at a church in Port Vila but they never got to me... this despite assurances that it had been set up from the NZ end. Apparently this is not the first time. Oh well, we got a rather long-winded thingee in the Bislama tongue instead...
The flight to Espiritu Santo was great with the aerial views quite spectacular. Talua Ministry Training College is well-run and the first of the seminars seemed to go quite well with very thoughtful responses from the students.

Off to Vanuatu

I head off tomorrow (Wednesday) to Vanuatu, where among other things, a colleague and I are conducting five days of seminars at Talua Ministry School on the island of Espiritu Santo. I doubt that I will get to blog while there but you never know.
I embark on this trip with luggage including over 2000 condoms - a gift to a family health clinic from the people of St Stephen's - many of whom have gone to their doctors and asked for a prescription! It has been quite entertaining hearing of the reactions of the doctors when some fairly elderly widows have made their requests!
I wonder how it will be going through customs with my 'supplies.'

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.