DB Revisited

Passover Meal

Will be good to see some pictures from our intrepid camera men so will be looking for their blogs/shots soon. Very much enjoyed the whole night which was on a bigger scale than last year where we had a small group at home and I cooked with along with Adeline. The intimacy and Jewish recipes we used made it an altogether different kind of feeling. Tonight was like a huge family gathered around a large table with many ages represented. I would like to think that eating in heaven will be like that where we can gather with many and fellowship.

It is also good to re-connect with how Jesus related the passover using his Jewish roots to what it would mean for all to follow. Having only just watched The Passion last weekend when we spent some time in silence I thought about what he went through for us. I am very grateful that in spite of the fact we mostly don't deserve it he still loves us and wants us to be with him.

This time of Lent has been odd for me in 2006 as I have been under much pressure on many fronts and I have not used the time to properly reflect on God and his sacrifice but tonight it all came together. I did not take even the small cup of wine for the toasts and I said to Sigrun when she said why not for the passover meal that I had not kept any other promises to God for Lent but that I had kept this one and it stands until Sunday.

Thanks God for taking these times to show us your love and grace even to a poor helpless sinner...

Fun For Lent

Just like a man hey girls

Do You Remember Hymns ?

We had three infant baptisms at BLC yesterday one of which was Pastor Sivin's very cute daughter Elysia (they were all cute but I cannot forget how much hair she and Darlene had as babies -awesome, in fact I think half the reason Chin Hor is the Godpa is because they had matching hairstyles for a while he-he) In proper form Sivin did not do the baptism himself though I guess the missionaries would have done so in the old days. Instead newly inducted Bishop Phillip Lok presided and gave us the message for the day. It was quite cool actually as he is young (at least for a Bishop) and he slipped a couple of jokes into the whole thing that from time to time I was thinking where is this leading ! What he does have in common with Bishops of olde is a powerful voice that could easily breathe some fire and brimstone into his sermons. I liked that he tied in BLC's journey to the beginning of his message so made it relevant to the congregation. I can now start to see why he was made Bishop.

The one thing that always come to mind though when I see a baptism is a favourite hymn from Australia that was very popular for such occasions. I don't remember much of any but this one sticks and I think it is because of both the beauty and the enormity of these occasions. I thought I would share the words here with you:

Father welcomes all his children
to his family through his son,
Father giving his salvation
life for ever has been won.

Little children, come to me,
for my kingdom is of these.
Life and love I have to give,
mercy for your sin:

In the water, in the Word,
in his promise, be assured:
Those who are baptised and believe
shall be born again:

Let us daily die to sin;
let us daily rise with him -
walk in the love of Christ our Lord,
live in the peace of God.

Welcome Natasha, Beatrice and Elysia

Here's Mud in Your Eye

I saw this story at Soulcare thanks for the tip Cath. I find it thrilling when we see the archaeological proof of what was written in a book centuries old. Even better when that book is the Bible.

The story itself that makes this place interesting is a compelling one and the moral worth repeating since it goes right to the heart of what is wrong with many of us:

 

John 9:40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and asked him, “We are not blind too, are we?” 9:41 Jesus replied, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, but now because you claim that you can see, your guilt remains.”

There will be those among us who will deny the meaning of this place of course (think Da Vinci Code) but they are blind.......

How To ?

These days there would be a million how to guides on bookshelves with enough guidance to get you around nearly every part of the planet, build, cook, paint, fix or blow up nearly everything you could think of. There are versions for dummies on every subject, versions for students, and versions for scholars. Every year they release a bunch of new ones and re-release a bunch of old ones so that us book worms can get our fix. Sadly though much of this is individual guidance, that is focussed on us as individuals and how we can improve ourselves.

This week we look at the discipline of guidance and the chapter opens right up on how in seeking knowledge of the spirit individual guidance is not sufficient. As with the examples above the danger is that we seek the answers that we want rather than allow the spirit to direct us to the right ones. It is not easy for me to think of guidance in this sense as a discipline. All too often I would follow the individual route as it is much more comfortable than taking it to a group.

We quickly establish though that we are a people of God not a mob who find themselves walking in the same direction. this becomes even more poignant when we consider Matt. 18:19, 20 "For where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them". This reminds me that on my own there is not as much chance of his being there to guide as there is when I am with other believers.

I appreciate the examples Foster gives us in this chapter in particular that of the Quakers and slavery. That is truly a powerful example of what can be achieved in community when we allow the spirit to lead us. Just as humbling is the story of how Francis of Assisi who had such a big impact on his order first sought advice from "purer and more spiritual companions". Again comparing this to our modern habit of reading books for guidance (and I can't help thinking about the irony of reading this book) I can't help but wonder how many decisions we make without the full guidance of the spirit.

The idea of a spiritual director is an important element of seeking proper guidance but I have to admit the job description is pretty tough. It makes me appreciate all the more those that I have come across who have filled this role for me.

Of course there is a warning in the chapter like with most of the disciplines that guidance is open to abuse and sadly many of us know someone who has been in this situation. That comes as a result of the human condition where leaders might seek to impose their own intentions/will without it being driven within the grace of god. It might be the best of intentions but if not under the appropriate circumstancdes does degenerate into manipulation. Likewise if we are stiff-necked and hard hearted we can hinder spirit inspired leaders.

All in all I embrace the concept of guidance as a discipline since the alternative is looking ever inward and that is contrary to everyhting we have learnt thus far.

Free Spirited

Set my spirit free that I may worship thee

This week I am back to the actual chapter after the holiday and seeking an exemption last week. This line really stood out from the page as I began to read and it puts the whole chapter in perspective if you keep it in mind as you read through. For all intents and purposes the discipline of Worship should be a snap for Christians right ? After all the only requirement is turning up on Sunday and you can tick that off the discipline to do list in your organiser. And if you happen to miss church you can tick it off by doing something good during the week right ?

If you answered yes to these questions I am afraid you are going to get a lump of coal in your stocking this year. Foster very neatly explains how simple it is to commit idolatry in the midst of meaning well if we try to avoid worship by serving. He also points out what worship means in the context of our relationship with God and if we just go along to get our gold star for attendance then we are not actually worshipping at all. Having said that he reminds us again that it is God who seeks us out just as he sought Adam and Eve in the garden so he is really meeting us halfway. All we need to do as Foster explains is only worship God and the reference is clear. "you shall only worship the Lord your God and him only you will serve" Matt 4:10

The neat part of this is that the form of worship is secondary so doing things a bit differently whether it be sitting at tables or not using P.6 of the hymnal is still worship provided we place ourselves in an attitude that allows God to set our spirit free. That seeming relaxation of the rules (to some ways of thinking) does not disregard the need to make worship a priority in our lives. Furthermore how you do it does not mean that no preparation is required. And we are not talking about practice by the worship team here but taking ther necessary steps to enter into God's presence. This is for both ourselves and those that worship with us. I like his suggestion that we look around before the start for any brother's or sister's that might need intercession as this deepens the experience for all.

He goes on to tell us to focus on Jesus not just as our leader during worship but our prophet, shepherd, bishop and priest. This is a quite different way to view his presence and makes for more of a relationship than adoration alone. Having set the stage he points out that as a discipline worship is still an ordered way of acting and living so that as with the other disciplines it gives God a chance to transform us. You might think of Sunday worship in this context as earning the minimum credits to get a pass and I have been guilty of that but he links it to our life style and how it can continue to change us through the whole week if we allow it and listen to those divine urges.

He gives us seven steps into worship that I won't repeat here but they are good commense steps that if we follow them will make it more meaningful. One of the most important things he tells us about worship is that it is not an opiate to escape everyday life. In fact it is a rally to war against those forces that oppose Christ and his works. I am trying to visualise Sivin now as a general with a cigar clamped in his mouth saying we will fight them on the beaches......

On a personal level worship is something that I have come to love in the last few years and though I may not be  fully in the program that Foster outlines I feel my spirit set free on enough occaisons to know that it is a lot more than just a corporate act.

Drunk In The Spirit

That's really how I felt going to BLC tonight for the fifth year anniversary. It is really like going home and the welcome from everyone also made it extra special for me. I hope all of our guests got to feel that too. The arrangments had all been done beautifully and I am very grateful to all that pitched in while I was able to have my break. The worship service was exactly what I needed tonight after a stressful week and have been feeling under spiritual attack lately. I don't mind saying that this tough aussie shed a few tears at various points. I only asked the lord this morning if he is hardening my heart like Ramses and I guess tonight he gave me my answer. ( I know that sounds a bit heretical but it's the truth lah)

My colleague who came reminded me just how young a lot of the flock is and he wasn't referring to the baby boom. I guess I tend to forget that these days since everyone just fit's together so nicely. Admittedly I feel a pang of sadness that padwan Chin Hor is going away for a while and when I analyse it my feelings are a bit fatherly so I guess deep down I recognise the age gap. Isn't achieving that kind of ties what Church is all about ? One of the guests spoke about the little things that matter tonight and not the numbers game and this is one of those little things to my way of thinking. We should share those little successes with each other and those beyond our house since that is what growing in Christ is a part of.

The gift ceremony also showed me just how willing our parts of the body are to pitch in and help, there were a lot of gifts because there were a lot of helpers and volunteers. Again these are not necessarily big things but each little part helps the other and in the end the whole body benefits. I chatted with Sivin on the way out about how it felt to come back and how different it felt to attend Church in QLD. I realise just how much my way of thinking and feeling has changed since we have been at BLC and I know I can never go back to the way it was before. *grins* that is growth isn't it ? So you don't need an epihany to change you at all. Just like those big boulders that water keeps dripping on God keeps chipping away at us to expose what is underneath. Again small drips can move mountains given enough time.

You know I still feel drunk even though I did not touch a drop today - water really can become wine when it is drunk with our Lord....

Happy Birthday BLC

Did Jesus Write a Reality Show ?

Our BLC celebrity guest speaker on Sunday was Rev Wolfgang whom always adds a touch of nostalgia for me with a little bit of liturgy (and also with you) included. I also appreciate his ever more atypical messages that belie a typical Lutheran training for our generation. (admittedly I have not attended any services in Bavaria either) This time he opened with the popular series The Apprentice which has Donald Trump wannabees running around completing various business challenges in order to get a job in one of his companies. He pointed out that the winners don't just have business acumen but they are also able to lead and work in teams. This relies on personality and the ability to engage and get on with others.

He then drew the parallel with our Christian organisations and, well, the people themselves and suggested that all too often we are also competing with each other. Whether this is at a high level where we compete over theology, the medium where it is church size, growth, attendance, funding, programs etc. or at the basic level where it is over gifts. I like that he made a point of saying that all gifts are equal and meant to be used by the spirit. It is true that often spiritual gifts lead to pride and envy and in the process can rob themselves of their usefulness. This is a case of the parts of the body competing with each other as Paul warned against in his 1st letter to the Corinthian church (chapter 12)

²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" ²²On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Yet if we look at the bombings in London and Madrid, the gaza strip, Lebanon, Iraq and right next door we see that we are all competing with each other for the top job. How then can we stop the madness if our energies are devoted to being bigger, better and more theologically correct than each other ?. How will we bring those who do not know God to him if all they see is the contestants trying to outdo each other ?.

Jesus reality was love and humility, his message was simple and meant freedom and riches for all of us, his glory was to serve the father and save us. A stark contrast to Mr Trump's version of reality but not likely to be picked up by one of the networks anytime soon. Sadly the pilot episode received poor reviews and so is only liked by hardcore fans who want more episodes. What we must realise though is that like Truman we are in the reality show and one of these days we will be called to the boardroom and either fired or allowed to stay......

Oops

I did not find the energy to do my COD entry last week but the organizers were very kind and did not scold me. Makes me feel worse that it was the discipline of study as well. Guess that is one that has me licked instead of the other way around. This week we go outward with the discipline of simplicity and my what a pleasant thought that is for this individual. Foster tells right at the start that

Simplicity is freedom. Duplicity is bondage.

So Rich can you teach us how to become free in a simpler fashion than - that an inward reality that results in an outward lifestyle (p.79) ? I recall last time this was one of the chapters that was hard to get my mind around and I read his book Freedom of Simplicity afterward to try and get more understanding (that was before I lost the discipline of study) I find it interesting that he says the lust for status and position goes because we don't need it. What if you have a position you don't want and didn't lust for that gives you maximum stress ? bang goes the simplicity. I suspect that this is a problem for many Christians in the workplace who have achieved positions not through lust or deceit but by integrity and hard work.

He goes on the the lust after affluence and goes as far as to say that in our society this has become psychotic because it has lost touch with reality. This is another area that I personally struggle with since we have been fortunate the last few years as a result of God's blessings. If I look back I have been working for twenty six years (26 yes that's right folks) and depending on your point of view have amassed a lot or a little. Along the way though I have not focused on the money aspect and he has provided so that helps. But I feel a bit schizophrenic about how we are viewed and how we view ourselves. Have had helpful talks with a mentor about it which has helped but Foster's words raise the issue again.

He continues in this vein for another two chapters hitting pretty hard about who do we serve God or Mammon and carefully pointing out that the Bible and in particular Jesus teachings are pretty clear on the matter. I think Joseph would have understood this section pretty well and would have agreed with the message. He after all trusted in the Lord and was constantly successful in spite of what his brothers and his bosses wife got up to. This is the essence of the second two sections which fortunately end on an upbeat note. Foster has a way of striking fear to get your attention and letting you down a little once he has done so.

He gives three inner attitudes important to getting to the place where we can start to be simple. The first is to receive what we have as a gift of God and I think most of us do that for the big ticket stuff like children but often perhaps not the small and everyday things. The simple act of giving thanks for a meal is a good example acknowledging it as a gift. The second is to trust God to protect the gifts he has given us and I liked that he related this not just our possession but also things such as our reputation and employment. The third and perhaps the more challenging one is to make our goods available to others. It is true that if we cling to them we are acknowledging that they came from him and that we trust him to provide. These three things together he says are what Jesus means by do not be anxious and I take a lot of comfort from that.

When it comes to the last section he again challenges us to look hard at what we have, why we wanted it and what drove how we chose it. He raises the idea that many things can be addictive and not just those that we put in our mouths like chocolate or alcohol. He has a compelling argument to get rid of those things that we are addicted to and so open a corner of our hearts for God. Sadly I see a bunch of things in this section that I can do better and whilst we did de-cumulate to an extent before coming to Malaysia we seem to have done some accumulation again since. He also catches me on the gadget front *sigh*, I wonder how many of my fellow bloggers are also gadgeteers ?

Funnily this last piece of the chapter reads like a ten step program and they are all very good common sense recommendations. To sum up though I would have to say this this discipline is anything but "simple" so lets do what Foster does and ask God to give us the courage, strength and wisdom to hold his kingdom first in our lives.

Super Size Me

I manage to be a day late with my celebration blog this week, looks like lying in bed in the hospital makes time that I would not spend at home with the other distractions ! Funnily enough I watched this movie yesterday and when I read again the opening to chapter four it was bingo !

In a culture where the landscape is dotted with shrines to the golden arches.....

There are some folks in that movie in serious need of regular fasting and not for spiritual reasons but I digress. I am atypical when it comes to food particularly in my currently adopted country where it is a part of life. In fact it is a large part of our church life also as many activities revolve around food and a big part of Sunday worship is the refreshments and fellowship afterward. Unlike the propaganda Foster refers to though I have never felt the need for three large meals a day. Those who are close to me know I rarely take breakfast and regularly skip lunch. I know before the comments start that this is unhealthy but that's the way I am. Unless I am burning enough calories I do not eat them and do not feel hunger pangs.

Of course unlike fasting for spiritual reasons (and missing a meal is how he suggests we start) with me it is more dietary and vanity related. It confirms for me his proposition that modern society tells us we must be eating all the time or we are on the verge of starvation. Thanks Richard for reminding me that I should use some of that time that I skip lunch to devote to prayer or other spiritual pursuits. I like the fact that he also makes a clear distinction between fasting and hunger strikes as the latter is usually for political purposes and at the least is an outward expression that focuses on the individual.

The point for me is that I don't think a full fast would be a heavy physical hardship for me since I am not a food worshipper yet I have never attempted it as a spiritual discipline and I am wondering to myself why that is ? As I read through the  who's who of fasting celebrities both in the bible and amongst the spiritual giants like Luther there is clearly a case for it and perhaps what is important is the purpose rather than the physical process. There are good quotes from Paul, David and the one I felt empathy for was "I humbled my soul with fasting" Ps 69:10 since it indicates gaining mastery over those things that control us. Clearly I have an element of pride that I can go without two meals but perhaps a two or three day fast would bring that bubbling to the surface where God can reshape it for me. After all as we learnt in Chapter One the purpose of the disciplines is to allow God to work within us to become better disciples.

He also makes a good case for fasting bringing some balance to our lives and quotes Paul as saying "All things are lawful for me, but I will not be ensnared by anything". Surely all things refers to a lot more than just food. Especially in our society where we have every possible convenience and things that Paul would not have dreamed would be there to ensnare him. This is why fasting need not be limited to food but could be fasting from something else that prevents us from our formation. I know Foster concentrates on fasting from food and he builds a compelling case for doing this not to any fixed schedule but as need or circumstances dictate. Interestingly with my recent medical adventures I have had to fast a couple of times so that I could have the operation and then for a blood sugar test. Many of us have done this and probably never questioned the doctor but diligently followed instructions. Why not fast then when being tested with spiritual matters ?

I have now for the last two years fasted from alcohol during Lent as an attempt to withhold one of my earthly pleasures to try and concentrate a little on what Jesus sacrificed for us. The first time I thought it would be really hard, especially with my job where I travel and spend time with colleagues in hotels and dinners etc. Both times it was okay though so I know God is listening and supports us when we do decide to do something that is centered on him. (as well as convincing myself I am not an alcoholic)

That experience was positive and the first year I believe resulted in the conception of our son so I am a convert to fasting. I am not sure if I am ready for the absolute fast but that is likely to be my wanting to remain in control which is the whole point isn't it. That makes Foster closing statement all the more poignant.

Now is the time for all who hear the voice of Christ to obey it.