teenage affluenza

One of the blogs I enjoy reading is Mark Sayers' blog.  Mark is one of the most insightful yet down to earth people around and a profoundly deep thinker - particularly in regards to culture.  I highly recommend you subscribe to his feed if you're interested in the impact of culture, particularly in regards to following Jesus (he has also just started a weekly podcast, too, so get onto his site and check it out).

In one of his previous entries, Mark made mention of a some of the resources on the World Vision resource page, Learn About Poverty.  I was perusing it today, and was blown away by this clip...

I can't see how anyone could not use that in their youth/young adult ministry - so many helpful discussions that could come out of it.  Please go to the site and check out the rest of their resources.

photos

Wow - how did 2 months pass without an entry?  Ah life...

Anyhoo, I thought I should put on here that I've got a flickr page (for those not in the know, flickr is an exceptional site for uploading, sharing and looking at images - particularly photography).

I'm still very much learning what constitutes a good photo, but there are some on there I'm pretty happy with - like this one...

If you're interested, head over to http://www.flickr.com/photos/natevawser

imagine if...

Sunday morning, we went to my Dad's church because it was his last Sunday there before he moves to a new church.  As part of his sermon, he talked about some of the metaphors Jesus used to describe "The Kingdom of God".  As I've mentioned previously, I've been struggling for a while with how useful the phrase "Kingdom of God" is for us today.  I fully understand the need for us to talk about the way things function if we lived God's way, but thinking about a Kingdom is not easy for someone who doesn't really live in a Kingdom, and for those who do, it's not necessarily helpful, for other reasons.  As that post notes, Brian McLaren suggests the "dream of God" as one alternative (which I've found very helpful) to talk about the Kingdom, so I've decided I'm going to do some regular blogs along this line with this title of "imagine if..."

Dad talked about how yeast and seeds are both small, hidden, and yet absolutely vital for transformation.  Imagine if the church saw itself with that mindset - small, hidden, and yet absolutely vital for transformation - how much differently would it function?  

This obviously flies in the face of a lot of popular church growth theory, which says that to be vital for transformation, a church needs to be big and obvious - numbers, building, signage, on TV, in people's face.  I'm not having a go at any of those things - some churches have the ability to do those things well, and have a great impact because of it.  However, is that what all churches should be aspiring for, or should we be aspiring to be smaller, hidden communities, who are transformative because we are yeast in the dough, or seeds in the soil?

One of the things I love about our faith community that we're in the very early stages of planting is that we want that to be at the core of who we are - small (as in not a big building, nor a big name - numbers are up to God), hidden, working away behind the scenes, but absolutely vital for the transformation of our city.

Imagine if... 

choose... life

I've had one of those mornings this morning - you know, the ones where you feel like you're swimming in concrete, it takes ages to do anything?

Examples - I bought a new scooter (so happy to save so much money!), and went to fill it up at the petrol station.  I usually go to Mobil when I'm on the scooter, and when I used to be on my ZZR, because you can pay at the pump, and don't have to take your helmet off, etc.  So, I go to the station, pay at the pump isn't working, so I have to go in to pay.  When I go in, the attendant realises that the guy who just paid (driving a Calais) gave him the wrong pump number (accidentally?) - mine.  You'd think either the guy buying the petrol or the guy selling it would have realised that it costs more than $7 to fill a Calais... So, the attendant has to go out, get the guy to come back in, charge him the extra... you get the picture.

Eventually, I get back on the scooter and managed to snag every single red light on the way into town - no exaggeration, every one. 

Then I get into town and our wireless wasn't working properly... sigh (obviously it is now).

Now, clearly none of those things are a big deal, but I can get frustrated pretty easily at stuff like that.

2 weeks ago at our feast gathering for church, we talked about Moses' glorious words from Deuteronomy 30:15-20, in which he reminds the Israelites that as they enter into the Promised Land, that's not going to be the end of their need to make choices, and he challenges them to choose life (v 19).

We talked about how we need to make choices every day, and we are continually presented with opportunities to choose options that give life, contrasted with choosing options that take life.  

As I was sitting at one of the (many) red lights this morning, I decided to make a choice, to take the opportunity to soak up the sunshine, to marvel at the contrast of the green trees against the blue sky, to choose life.  I also reflected on how blessed we are to be able to make choices, and that the way we respond is really up to us.

boxing God

Last night at our feast gathering for church, we did a fantastic reflection based on Isaiah 53, and Mark 8:27-30 - discussing who we understand Jesus to be, and how easy it is for us to shape our understanding of Jesus on something that is so much smaller than he actually is.  

As a way of practically reflecting on that, we bought some chinese food boxes, and Josh, our Creative Curator asked us to reflect on the ways in which we keep God in a box, then to open the box out and reflect on the characteristics of God that we struggle with.

It was very helpful, and very powerful.  I was especially challenged to reflect on the ways in which, by putting Jesus in a box, I limit his ability to act.  It's not that Jesus doesn't have the power, but are there times that I, by my small-mindedness (or should that be small-boxedness?) limit Jesus' ability to use that power in my life or in the situations I find myself in?  

Who do you say Jesus is?  What's in the box?

viva la vida

I bought the new Coldplay CD the other day, and I really like it.  It's quite different to their previous albums, but I love some of the time and feel changes they've got throughout.

My favourite song from the album is the title track, and I've spent a bit of time lately thinking about why I really like the songs I love, like this one.  Where I've come to is that many of the songs I enjoy the most are ones that really build - songs like Viva la Vida, Straight Lines by Silverchair, Knights of Cydonia by Muse.  There's something great about the way in which a song starts low, then gradually builds to a musical explosion... awesome.

It seems to me that life, at its best, is full of a similar feeling.  We move through periods where the music dies down, then gradually starts to build (and our expectation with it), leading up to a key moment, where something significant happens, then the music starts to die down again, before rebuilding and starting again.

Just like with music, if it was pumped the whole time, or if it was quiet the whole time, life would get boring - it's the changes in tempo, feel, and the crests and troughs that make life enjoyable.  Sure, sometimes we'd prefer it would build a bit quicker, or die down earlier, but if we (I!) can learn to ride the waves, and appreciate the subtle changes, and where it is taking us, I'm sure it would be so much easier to enjoy life.  

Viva la Vida! 

priorities

The other day, I purchased a new heater for our church.  Because we're in the city, I bought it from the Mall, and walked back to our base with my big heater in a box - feeling more than a little self-conscious.

As I was walking down the Mall, there was a homeless guy, who was selling The Big Issue (a street magazine designed to help the homeless and unemployed help themselves).  I said hi to him, and he made a comment "looks like someone will be warm tonight".  

It smacked me right between the eyes as I walked away that this guy had a different perspective than me.  The first thing he thought of when he saw the heater was warmth (which makes sense), but warmth and home.  That wasn't even on my radar when I bought it (I was simply fulfilling a task, really), and, to be honest, I felt terrible.

It's so easy to take so much for granted, and forget how lucky we are. 

redemption

One of the things I enjoy doing is playing basketball, and I play socially with a great bunch of guys on Saturday afternoons.  Last week, for a number of reasons, I got quite frustrated during our game.  I didn't go all Barry Hall and punch anyone, but I did say a few things in anger and wasn't pleased at all with my behaviour - in short, I felt like I didn't even come close to reflecting Jesus.

As a penalty, I decided to suspend myself from this week's game - there are no rules that I broke or anything that meant I had to, I just felt is was an appropriate way of reminding myself that basketball is supposed to be about fitness, camaraderie, fun, team, enjoyment, and if I'm going to take it to seriously, I shouldn't be playing.  I emailed my team and told them my decision, and resigned myself to not playing today.

It turned out that one of our other guys wasn't going to be able to play this week, though, so I was asked to consider playing, and I chose to use the AFL model of taking a guilty plea, which reduced my "points", so I could play (guess I'm now ineligible for the Brownlow...), but any more indiscretions, and it was a guaranteed suspension.

So, I played, we won by about 20, I scored 14, and really enjoyed the game.  As I was driving home, I started to think about the difference between redemption of that form - where I'm given another chance, an opportunity to dust myself off and get up and play again, rather than the "you're guilty, you've stuffed it, so there's a penalty to be served".  Instead of sitting at home, feeling sorry for myself, guilty that I'd messed up, and guilty that because of it, our team had to suffer (even if that was only because they didn't have an extra sub!), I had the opportunity to show that it was a mistake, that's not how I want to function, and that I can do better.  

(As an aside, I did also wonder where I would have felt as good if we had lost, or if I hadn't scored any points, but I think in the end, it was the opportunity to get back on the horse that gave me the feelings of redemption, rather than the end result.  One could argue, of course, that the result was due to the redemption, but things are starting to get circular and maybe I'm analyzing too much.)

In short, though, when we think about redemption and forgiveness for those around us, what's our response?  Should we penalise people, teaching them a lesson, drumming into them that they've messed up and haven't met whatever standard we've set or they've set?  What would happen instead if we, individually, and in our faith communities, gave people the opportunity to show us and (probably more importantly) themselves that they are better than that, that it was a mistake, and they're still a part of our life? 

That's certainly the perspective I get from Jesus, that grace looks much more like the second type of redemption than the first, and that God's focus is far more on getting us dusted off, back in the game, back to our best, rather than sitting at home feeling sorry for ourselves.

Easter photo

In a previous post (here), I mentioned about a photo that Josh was taken with when we went to my parents' church at Easter.  I did actually get it a while ago, but never got around to posting it, so here it is.  

Be interested in your thoughts - what strikes you about it?  what does it say to you?  do you find meaning in it?  

update

Well, it's been a while.  I've been extraordinarily slack of late, and it's well and truly time to get back into the habit of writing some comments (as much for the discipline of cognitively reflecting as for anyone else's benefit - but I hopt it's helpful for you, too).

To help me, I have a new toy... er, I mean work tool - a MacBook.  I haven't had a Mac before, but my friend Chris Folmsbee pretty much converted me to them with his passion for them when I had the great fortune of spending some time with him in 07 and 06.  I'll be honest... I love it, so hopefully the joy of Mac use will help me get back into the swing of things.  On the other hand, as J.J. Abrams (creator of Lost (which is still brilliant - if you stopped watching it, you have no staying power... and yes, they have answered some questions)) says, Macs are so brilliant that the work we do on them needs to be worthy, so maybe I'll just be intimidated.  

Anyhoo, enough rambling - here's some of what's been happening in my world...

1. I have a new job and a new faith community - I'm part of a fresh church plant in Adelaide's city, focussed on young adults.  We're looking at how we can best engage with young adults, and have a blank slate to create the community in whatever form seems appropriate.  Scary and exciting, both at the same time.

2. We're moving house - we move to a 1 year old house in 3 weeks... can't wait

3. Did I mention I have a MacBook?

4. I've been amazed at how well Facebook works - I've found, or been found, by countless people I'd lost contact with

5. One negative about moving house is that our front garden is looking fantastic - I've been amazed to see all the hard work I did a while ago has paid off, but sad to know I won't be seeing it much longer (looking forward to starting fresh at our new place though)

6. I discovered Muse some months ago, and man do I love Muse.  I bought the Haarp DVD a few weeks ago, which only increased my devotion

Well, that's probably enough rambling.  Hopefully in the days to come I'll have a little more to offer...