Sunday, July 27, 2008
Friday Funnies - Oops! Forgot!
Here's a belated Friday Funny for your enjoyment. Particularly for the Simpsons watchers among you all:
The Power of Encouragement
A timely word of encouragement is like a warm hug. Not a gratuitous and insincere "Oh, you're fine darling!", but a heartfelt encouragement to hang in there, to keep going, to remain faithful.
I can understand Paul's words in Ephesians:
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:29-32)
It can be easy to become frustrated with people, can't it? Particularly when things in life don't automatically go as expected. I've noticed that the older I get, the more things I experience that can potentially make me bitter. Forgiveness is an important response to keep well-practised. I'm still learning.
I've really benefitted from a well-placed word of encouragement, and I am very grateful for God's provision of godly, faithful Christians who have a gift of that important ability. I can also see the challenge to be more positive in my own conversation so that I can build up rather than tear down.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Philosophies of church
I've been hearing about the Acts 29 network for some time now. Basically it's a network of pastors and church planters that exists to ... well ... plant churches.
I particularly like this philosophy:
We won’t water down our theology to reach more people and we won’t attack the culture in the name of Christianity. We are planting churches that are missionaries in their respective communities sent by Christ with the gospel (John 20:21).
Contextualisation is an important process. It is where we weed out the cultural aspects of our message to make the timeless Gospel appropriate for a specific situation. It is not watering down the message to make it more palatable, but removing cultural baggage to make it understandable. When we do not properly contextualize, we introduce unnecessary additions to belief, and fail to address cultural issues that need to be transformed.
Back at college, I met a person who had been teaching in a theological college in a different culture. He drew a line down the middle of the board, and had the students think about what parts of the gospel message were biblical, and what parts were "white man's culture". One student found it particularly difficult to grasp that using a toothbrush was not essential to being a Christian!
That is an example of a lack of contextualization: the notion that to be a Christian is equivalent to being a middle class white person. While this is an extreme example, there are lots of ways in which we might unintentionally add in cultural requirements to our evangelism - even within our own culture. Like sitting still for 45 minutes to hear a monologue. For many parts even of our Australian culture, the notion of sitting for that long listening to one person speak is rather alien. Sure, people will happily sit in front of a television for hours on end, but that involves a bombardment of visual and auditory stimuli, multiple camera angles and regular advertisement breaks. Where else can these monologues be found in our society today? Well, unless you are a member of parliament, the most likely place this is found is in university lecture theatres. So the question is: do we add the expectation of a tertiary-education-level ability to our gospel message?
I'm not bagging out the sermon here, by the way. It is still an important part of teaching. But I'm just thinking about the way in which it is delivered, and whether there is a more culturally appropriate way of doing things. What do you think?
I particularly like this philosophy:
We won’t water down our theology to reach more people and we won’t attack the culture in the name of Christianity. We are planting churches that are missionaries in their respective communities sent by Christ with the gospel (John 20:21).
Contextualisation is an important process. It is where we weed out the cultural aspects of our message to make the timeless Gospel appropriate for a specific situation. It is not watering down the message to make it more palatable, but removing cultural baggage to make it understandable. When we do not properly contextualize, we introduce unnecessary additions to belief, and fail to address cultural issues that need to be transformed.
Back at college, I met a person who had been teaching in a theological college in a different culture. He drew a line down the middle of the board, and had the students think about what parts of the gospel message were biblical, and what parts were "white man's culture". One student found it particularly difficult to grasp that using a toothbrush was not essential to being a Christian!
That is an example of a lack of contextualization: the notion that to be a Christian is equivalent to being a middle class white person. While this is an extreme example, there are lots of ways in which we might unintentionally add in cultural requirements to our evangelism - even within our own culture. Like sitting still for 45 minutes to hear a monologue. For many parts even of our Australian culture, the notion of sitting for that long listening to one person speak is rather alien. Sure, people will happily sit in front of a television for hours on end, but that involves a bombardment of visual and auditory stimuli, multiple camera angles and regular advertisement breaks. Where else can these monologues be found in our society today? Well, unless you are a member of parliament, the most likely place this is found is in university lecture theatres. So the question is: do we add the expectation of a tertiary-education-level ability to our gospel message?
I'm not bagging out the sermon here, by the way. It is still an important part of teaching. But I'm just thinking about the way in which it is delivered, and whether there is a more culturally appropriate way of doing things. What do you think?
Romance and other perversities
"Some day, my prince will come..."
So sings Snow White in the famous Disney movie, a favourite with girls young and old since its 1937 release. It's represented the hopes and dreams of many women who wait with romantically bated breath for their prince to ride in on a white horse and rescue them from the mundaneity of life.
It's amazing how, even though we are intelligent, educated women, we still go weak at the knees for a romance. Recently a new series of Jane Austen movies screened on local television, and I was glued to the set each week (and, I must say, extremely disappointed when it only ran to three movies).
What is it about the romance that appeals to us? I have a few theories, but what do you think?
So sings Snow White in the famous Disney movie, a favourite with girls young and old since its 1937 release. It's represented the hopes and dreams of many women who wait with romantically bated breath for their prince to ride in on a white horse and rescue them from the mundaneity of life.
It's amazing how, even though we are intelligent, educated women, we still go weak at the knees for a romance. Recently a new series of Jane Austen movies screened on local television, and I was glued to the set each week (and, I must say, extremely disappointed when it only ran to three movies).
What is it about the romance that appeals to us? I have a few theories, but what do you think?
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Quote for the day
"Operating on the principle that triviality is more profitable than substance, and dedicating itself to unceasing material overkill, consumer culture has become a fine-tuned instrument for keeping people incomplete, shallow and dehumanised. Materialism continues to gain ground, even in the face of an impending eco-apocalypse.
"Pulp culture is a feast of tinsel and veneer. The ideal citizen is an empty tract through which gadgets can pass quickly, largely undigested, so there is always space for more. Reality races by as a blur of consumer choices that never feel quite real. We know it as the fast lane and whip ourselves to keep apace."
John Schumaker, Triumph of Triviality (SMH Essay, 19th July 2008)
"Pulp culture is a feast of tinsel and veneer. The ideal citizen is an empty tract through which gadgets can pass quickly, largely undigested, so there is always space for more. Reality races by as a blur of consumer choices that never feel quite real. We know it as the fast lane and whip ourselves to keep apace."
John Schumaker, Triumph of Triviality (SMH Essay, 19th July 2008)
Friday, July 18, 2008
Why the long absence?
Sorry for the absence. We're still under the weather. I'm hoping it settles down soon, because there are lots of people I'd like to try and catch up with. I just know how squeamish I am when I'm coughed on, and don't think I can invite other people into our house to expose them to that.
In the next few days we'll see whether Eldest's rash is just a reaction to antibiotics or something he's supposedly been vaccinated against...
In the next few days we'll see whether Eldest's rash is just a reaction to antibiotics or something he's supposedly been vaccinated against...
Friday Funnies - The future looks bright
Found this graph at GraphJam today, and I think it's an appropriate one based on the title of this blog:
We've got some great years to look forward to, haven't we?
We've got some great years to look forward to, haven't we?
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
It's snowing again!
Well, it's actually a rather pathetic attempt at snow. It's too warm for it to settle, so all we see are white flakes falling. But I still like it. It's much quieter than rain...
Monday, July 07, 2008
Shameless Plug
The Gruen Transfer is an ABC TV show that picks holes in advertising, showing how ad agencies work to make us want stuff and buy it. Every week, the show picks a particularly unsavoury topic to see if ad agencies are able to sell the unsellable. So far they've covered plastic bags, meat, celibacy and Baghdad as a holiday destination. Last week, they were trying to make child labour palatable. It's all very tongue-in-cheek of course!
Now my personal feelings are that child labour isn't something I would favour at all. However, my brother works for one of the companies that were involved in The Pitch last week, so I'm throwing my hat in to shamelessly plug his company's offering. If you saw last week's episode, you can vote for The Furnace* here.
* Of course, I'm being completely impartial!
Now my personal feelings are that child labour isn't something I would favour at all. However, my brother works for one of the companies that were involved in The Pitch last week, so I'm throwing my hat in to shamelessly plug his company's offering. If you saw last week's episode, you can vote for The Furnace* here.
* Of course, I'm being completely impartial!
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