Carson quote.

Some gold from Carson, and a warning to a busy church like ours:

"We may have all kinds of wonderful ideas about what we as Christians might do, yet somehow never get around to doing any of them. Alternatively, we may immediately proceed to organisation and administration, and never seek, except in a sporadic and accidental ways, the decisive approval of God on our Christian dreams. The truth is that unless God works in us and through us, unless God empowers these good purposes of ours, they will not engender any enduring spiritual fruit; they will not display any life transforming, people changing power. "Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labour in vain" (Ps 127:1). And unless the Lord fulfills our good, faith-prompted purposes, they will remain arid, fruitless - either empty dreams or frenetic activity with no life, but in either case, spiritually anemic.

This means we need to go over our agendas and priorities, and those of the people and leaders in our churches and missions, and ask again and again, "What are our goals, our purposes? What is our mission, our direction? What should we be attempting for Christ's sake? And as we find answers to such questions, we must intercede with God that he, by his great power, might bring these good purposes, these faith prompted acts, to bountiful fruitfulness. "

From A Call to Spiritual Reformation p57

What is persecution?

I was reading Acts with Sam this morning, in particular chapter 17 where Paul is attacked by a rioting mob in the city of Thessalonica. That made me think all day about whether as Christians living in Sydney 2007, we face persecution.

I've had to go through a number of difficulties as a follower of Jesus - negative comments from people at work, ridicule by university lecturers, lots of angry letters and criticism when I wrote an article on the misuse of the term "fundamentalism Christian" and put together a religion issue for Honi - but if I am honest, none of these have been a trial, form of persecution or hardship. They may look that way on paper, but they didn't affect me to the point where I was really suffering for my faith.

When I read about what Paul and the early Christians went through for the sake of Christ, of how they were beaten and almost killed, severely mocked, even chased out of towns, I feel it's almost insulting to call what I (sometimes) go through as "persecution". If someone makes a comment at work, it's often veiled, civilized and only implicitly derogatory. I've never been
attacked in a way that has caused me real emotional or physical pain.

This might say more about the comfortable world I live in than the nature of persecution today. So many Christians are greatly attacked for what they believe in. In Indonesia, two Sunday School teachers were recently imprisoned for inadvertently teaching Muslim children about the Scriptures. And in other countries, a Bible is considered dangerous and subversive; a far cry from my life today. I am often too comfortable being middle-class. Maybe I need to go where mild-mannered snobbery and disaffected tolerance gives way to more genuine reactions to the gospel of Jesus, making hostility unavoidable.

Or it might be an indication that I'm not "bold" enough when it comes to my faith. Unlike Paul, I don't leap at every opportunity to tell people about Jesus, nor am I active in proclaiming what I believe. Perhaps I need to do more of this. Maybe my lack of persecution is a sign that I am a lukewarm testimony to my Lord and Saviour.

I try be as open I as I can about my faith. I always try to let people know from the beginning of any relationship that I'm a Christian. Although I'm not always good at this, I try to talk about aspects of my Christian life in a way that will invite further questions and interest; I try to live my life in a way that honours God before all people. I also pray and look for opportunities to talk to people about Jesus. I am never pushy, or even for that matter, bold. Maybe this is something I need to work on.

I don't believe Christians should go around looking for persecution. And when we face it, we shouldn't grumble, complain or boast about it, as if it makes us more holy (if anything, we boast in suffering and our own weaknesses because it glorifies Christ!). Like Paul, we should be joyful in the face of persecution. Maybe that's why I've never felt "persecuted", because I've always considered a reaction - any reaction - to the message of Jesus as gladness in my heart. This is not because of any piety on my count, but because they simply haven't hurt me where it's mattered enough for me to struggle to be joyful. If they took away my freedom or separated me from people I love, that might be a different story.

So I wonder: are we really persecuted in middle-class Sydney for being a Christian?
And are we too loose with the definition of "persecution" when we attribute it to something which is just an unfortunate encounter or challenge, considering that for the original readers of Paul's letters, persecution equaled flogging, death and separation from loved ones? An acidic comment doesn't seem to cut it compared to these things....

holidays

Winter is so much easier when you have a holiday to look forward to.

I'm going to try and take a week off before my next placement starts in august so Sam and I can get away for a while. Someone close to us has been really generous, so we have a small sum of money to spend on a trip away.

However, it's a lot harder planning a holiday in winter. I don't know how to ski (in fact, I've never seen the snow) so we thought we'd save the snowfields for another time in favour of a more relaxing trip.

Ideas we've had so far are the Hunter Valley, Melbourne, somewhere in Victoria, somewhere up north. As you can see, they're not very specific!

Does anyone have any ideas? Preferably somewhere we can relax and chill-out, but also see/do something fun.

V for Vendetta

Sam and I were out every night last week, so on Saturday night we decided to stay in and watch V for Vendetta on DVD.

I really enjoyed this movie. Directed by the Wachowski brothers of The Matrix Trilogy fame, it follows the Orwellian "1984" tradition of imagining the future as one big totalitarian state - with lots of references to Hitler (the chancellor, if I'm not mistaken, rises to power in a similar way that Hitler did).

Stylistically, it was a lot like The Matrix - lots of slow motion moves mixed with fast cuts, a slick aesthetic and a pumping soundtrack. That was cool to watch. The story was tightly linked to the war in Iraq; it was pretty obvious that whoever wrote the original story was against the Bush administration.

Like the Matrix, I think I need to watch it a second time to fully appreciate the depth of the storyline. Good thing it's a weekly hire.

College Day

I spent this morning at Moore College with a close friend, sitting in on a second year doctrine lecture. I went to get a feel for the place, as Bible college is one of the options that next year presents. The thought of going to college next year is a bit scary for a few reasons. Firstly, I'm generally nervous about making any big life choices, and I don't like change. Also, I know some lovely people who go to college, but there are others who intimidate me. On top of this, most of the advice people give me starts with the question "What do you want to do afterwards?". This is hard, because I honestly don't know!

So going to spend a morning sitting in on a class was a great thing to do, as it really helped me get a clearer picture of what happens at college. In the class we looked humanity - and different takes on what it means to be created in God's image, and what our relationship is with God 'the word' and then other people. There was lots I didn't understand - but that's ok! I enjoyed the morning, and now I have an actual experience of college to base my decision making on. Please pray for Soph and I as we make decisions about next year.

Coffee Roasting.

Met up to read the Bible with a good mate today who has just finished building a coffee roaster. After getting stuck into Romans 4 we fired the thing up and roasted two lots of beans.

The roaster is a pretty groovy contraption, and was a number of months in the making. It's basically a pressure cooker lid over the top of a custom made set of stirring arms which run on an electric motor. It struggled a bit with keeping the temperature up, so more work to do on the element, but it was fun times all the same! Here are some photos:

Green Beans: Ethiopian Harar

The scary looking stirring arms!

The element and the temperature.

The final results

Work computers

A friend of mine just emailed a screenshot of the error message they got on a work computer when they tried to visit the MYC site. Rather strong language from the IT department methinks!

What does your work stop you from visiting?

UNSW MYC

Campusbiblestudy were never this trendy in my day. This is a great idea for a conference website. They've obviously been thinking hard.

Another sermon

I wrote how much I enjoyed church a week or so ago, and promised a link to the sermon that Andrew Laird preached that night.

No such thing as a free lunch?

I beg to differ. I've had two of them today. One from Andre (soup and rolls) and the other from Soph's parents (home made lasagne). I love freebies.

What's the best freebie you ever got?

Bible Study tonight.

Tonight we're continuing our series in Acts, looking at the growth of the early church, but also at the tactics that Satan used in seeking to destroy the church.
I read this quote today in a commnetary where John Stott writes about this section of Acts: that it could be described as "‘The strategy of Satan'. His strategy was carefully developed. He attacked on three fronts. His first and crudest tactic was physical violence. He tried to crush the church by physical violence. His second and more cunning assault was moral corruption or compromise. Having failed to destroy the church from outside, he attempted through Ananias and Sapphira to insinuate evil into its interior life, and so ruin the Christian fellowship. His third an subtelest ploy was distraction. He sought to deflect the apostles from their priority responsibilities of prayer and preaching by pre-occupying them with social administration, which was not their calling. If he had been successful in this, an untaught church would have been exposed to every wind of false doctrine. These then were his weapons – physical (persecution), moral (subversion) and professional (distraction)."

It seems that little has changed in his strategy. The devil is rather unimaginative!

Council Clean-up Christianity

Listened to a brilliant sermon this morning on Philippians 3, a passage that I am covering at Crossfire in a few weeks. I think I'll steal the illustration that the Christian life is just like a council cleanup. Kudos if you can work out why that is so...

No points if you've heard the sermon already.

economics and law

For the next two weeks I’m taking some short courses as part of my cadetship, the first in economics (or more precisely, an overview of economics and finance journalism) and the second in media law (or how to write articles and not get sued for defamation).

Having done an arts degree alongside my media major at uni, a degree which comprised of only the subjects I wanted to study – film, art history and theory, English, sociology – I thought I would really struggle with these subjects. I get easily confused when it comes to financial figures and the precise nature of law is quite foreign to my way of thinking.

I don’t know whether it’s because I underrated my ability to grasp concepts, or the Gittens-esque nature of the course, but so far I’ve found the classes a really positive experience. I think what has helped is linking theory to the kinds of issues I deal with (and hopefully will be dealing more with) at work. Getting a background in general economics was really helpful in understanding how reporters write about issues like the budget or major merges in the corporate world. At the same time, it’s been good to understand the issues behind media law in Australia, not just to avoid defamation, but to understand how to build a defence against potential lawsuits in your work.

Crossfire page.

Our Crossfire page is slowly coming together.

New bits in Leopard

Forgive this geeky post. I only do them once in a while.

This is for the Mac users out there. I love the idea of remote screen sharing, or doing powerpoint presentations via video link - that kind of stuff is cool. Check out the other great features here.

two things I ask

I read a beautiful prayer tonight during our leaders meeting. I'm going to try and memorise it this week.

Two things I ask of you, O Lord;
do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, 'Who is the Lord?'
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.

Proverbs 30:7-9

Reading the Preface

It's something that I've taken to doing more and more, especially as I read Christian books. It helps to understand more of the context in which it was written, and gives a framework for understanding and critiquing the work.

Last night I decided to re-read 'The Cross of Christ' by John Stott. I didn't read the preface first time round, so that's the bit I got stuck into last night. Here's a snippet I liked:

"In developing my theme, I have had in mind the triangle of Scripture, tradition and the modern world. My first anxiety has been to be true to the Word of God, allowing it to say what it has to say and not asking it to say what I might want it to say. There is no alternative to careful exegesis of the text. Secondly, I have endeavoured to share some of the fruits of my reading. In seeking to understand the cross, one cannot ignore the great works of the past. To be disrespectful of tradition and of historical theology is to be disrespectful of the Holy Spirit who has been actively enlightening the church in every century. Then, thirdly, I have tried to understand Scripture, not only in its own light and in the light of tradition, but also in relation to the contemporary world. I have asked what the cross of Christ says to us at the end of the twentieth century."

What are you reading at the moment?

DiG Jazz

I get to work from home some quite a bit doing ministry. Unless I have music on in our house, I find it really hard to concentrate, so I try to work with music on in the background. Problem is, if I listen to music with lyrics, I end up singing along in my study rather than reading/praying/thinking/writing.

Lately I've found a great solution. When we got digital television, I found channel 201. It's a radio channel called DiG Jazz, broadcast by the ABC. They play the same thing on-line. I've always enjoyed listening to jazz, but never realised how much it helps me to be productive and concentrate. Plus it's funky, and I like having it on even when I'm not working!

Art on the walls

It's 9:30pm and someone is playing the song "Happy Together" downstairs. It's warm in our little flat, causing frost to gather on the windows. I'm waiting for the glue on our canvas to dry before adding the final touches to our new artwork.

Sam and I have been quite busy lately, so it's been nice to have last night and today to relax. Last night we watched Marie Antionette on DVD (I really enjoyed it - I might blog about it later). Today we woke up really late, made french toast for breakfast and wandered around Paddington markets, where we bought a cool print from this photographer. The one we chose is the main image on her homepage.

We have been slowly decorating our unit since we moved in. I've painted one canvas, our friend Bonnie made us another which I mounted on some hessian, and now we have this one - it's just made from material I bought from Spotlight. I quite like it! I'm also in the middle of a fourth canvas that is roughly inspired by one of my favourite artists, Klimt. It's a collage based on his work The Kiss.

Look and feel

We changed our template last week. This the fourth 'new look' fountainside since we started blogging about a year ago. I'm not sure if I totally like it, although neither Soph nor I have had much time to do something about it. What do you think of it? Should we change it? Go back to what we had? Might work on it a bit tomorrow...

Update: I'm a bit more settled on this. What do you think now?

Discipling others

This week has been quite busy for me. Despite not having to speak at crossfire this week, I've had a full week of catching up with men - to read the Bible and pray.

Discipling people through a relationship that includes hanging out, praying together and reading God's Word really is the best part of ministry. Before I started training in ministry, I discipled a couple of younger guys by reading the Bible, sharing meals and coffee, praying together and often getting stuck into reading some theology. It is a great joy to still keep up with these guys even though we aren't at church together any more. One of them messaged me this week with a really encouraging text:

Hey Sambo. How are you doing my friend? How is crossfire going? Since meeting up i've taken a leaf out of your book and am reading the Bible cover to cover. Just into leviticus now, have been challenged by how much God hates sin. Looking at sacrifice too. What's news with you?

I was really encouraged. Things like this are greatest delights of ministry.

I've grown to love discipling more than any other part of ministry. It's a privilege to sit beside brothers in Christ and read the scriptures with them; to think together about how to honour Christ in our lives. It builds deep friendships, centred around what is important.

When I moved churches and started training in ministry, I was initially a bit discouraged because I wasn't spending as much time with men one to one, and seemed to be spending more time 'doing tasks'. But having settled at church and established a growing number of strong relationships, the one to one side of things has picked up. Now it constitutes much more than half my week. I'm praying that God might use the time I spend with these men to strengthen them in the gospel, make them men of prayer, love and faithfulness. I hope too, that God might be gracious to me that I might see more of the fruit of my labour, like the text I got this week.

Scripture Update

After out third week on the books of the Bible, 14 of my class could recite the NT books this morning. Very impressive - it's a great exercise for them, and I think it has really raised their confidence around the Bible - now it's something they are familiar with so they can read it!

Eight?

Could there be an eighth Harry Potter book? Quite possibly. (h/t AL).

Update: Another potter article was published today too.

I hate salad

I hate salad.

I don't mean fancy salads, the kind you get at restaurants with different exotic ingredients. I hate green salads - the boring, healthy kind that you serve with meat at dinner, the tomato-cucumber-lettuce variety. It's so bland and boring to eat, even with vinegarette.

I know there are ways to spice up the humble garden salad, with croutons, pinenuts, crunchy bacon bits, sundried tomatoes, crumbly cheese, mayonnaise or even smoked salmon, if it's a special night. Unfortunately, these delicious extras are deceptive because they're included not to enhance, but to hide, the fact that you're eating a salad. It's very sneaky. People everywhere think they're being healthy when they order the gourmet greek salad, thai beef or low fat (ha!) ceasar, when in fact it's just like eating a hamburger or a fetta cheese sandwich - minus the bread.

Real salad has to be low in calories and high in nutrients, which is exactly why it tastes so wrong. Real salad is cold in your mouth, bland on the tastebuds and leave you with that odd feeling that you've expended an awful lot of energy eating crunchy water.

My hatred for salad is partly because I come from an Asian background. When it comes to vegetables, we leave Anglos for dead. We know how to do vegetables, how to stir fry, steam and braise with just the right amount ginger, garlic and oyster sauce so you don't even notice the nutritional value as it enters your mouth. We even know how to eat tofu which, if you've ever tasted it raw, is quite a feat (admittedly chicken's feet and fish eyes are also a Chinese delicacy, so there's only so much pride I can have).

In Anglo meals, vegetables are something you either steam to death and put next to your meat, or chuck in a bowl to form The Salad. I wish I could be sanctimonious and eat my cucumber slices with full appreciation of its nutritional value, but I can't get over the blandness.

Which leads me to the point of this post. Does anyone know of a good salad that is tasty to eat, yet doesn't contain a lot of calories? If so, please comment here. Tonight, I tried baby spinach leaves, tomato, carrots and eggplant - but I fried the eggplant with olive oil and soy sauce, so it probably wasn't as healthy as it could have been.

It's time to liven up tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce!

P.S. SumoSalad has released a new online campaign urging men to eat more salad. I had to review it for work. I won't put a link to it here as it uses quite explicit language to be funny, but I'm sure you could find it if you wanted to.

Pull quotes

Have you ever seen a webpages that can do 'pull quotes'? It's when the author has written a sentence they want to highlight, and so it gets its own little block on the side with some inverted commas.

I've been trying to work out how to get this happening with blogger this afternoon, but currently to no avail. I found this, but when I installed it on my template, it didn't do anything, even when I used the tags in a post. Can anyone help?

Eating what?

This is gross.

The Gospel according to Oprah

Oprah doesn't like the idea of only one way. What do you think? Did the audience get it right?

Church last night

Church last night had the best 'feel' that it's had in ages. A fantastic sermon, sharp music and lots of people. I had one of the best nights at church that I've had in a while - I felt fed from the sermon, and uplifted by conversations afterwards.

Of course, church is not solely about the 'feel'. Church isn't even about my own 'being fed'. Church needs to be about serving others and encouraging the body of Christ. I certainly don't want to fall into the trap of thinking that we can only serve others once we ourselves have been fed and/or encouraged by the church meeting - that can lead to real selfishness.

But for me there is a certain reality that if I am encouraged, and if I am fed from the word of God, I seem to be more willing to serve, more willing to love.

Last night Lairdy preached in a way that gave weighty and insightful application for the Christian, and painted a fantastic picture of the Christian community for the outsider. He got the balance of preaching to insiders and outsiders just right.

I think there is a certain danger in only focusing on one of these groups or the other. If the saints are not being built up and strengthened - church needs to change. Likewise, if new people are not coming to the meeting and being convinced of the truth of the gospel by the words and the lives of the people they meet there - again something is wrong.

We looked last night at the letter to Philemon. It was preached passionately, and with a view to getting church 'family relationships' right. Outsiders were encouraged to look in on a very attractive way of relating to others, while the body of Christ were spurred on to forgive, love and pray for each other, with relevant and challenging application, spoken from the heart. When the word of God is spoken like that, I find myself far more willing to serve - and I had some of the best conversations with people I've had at church in a while.

There is no need to hold back on edification of the saints in order to be outsider friendly. In fact, if your church builds up the believers to be strong in Christ, they will do the work of reaching the outsiders for you. I certainly felt more willing to look out for others after hearing the word of God like that.

Praise be to God for a good night at church.

I'll put a link to the sermon when it comes up.

20,000 hits.

We've been tracking hits on our blog since July last year, and in 10 months we've had some 20 thousand page loads. We really enjoy writing stuff here, and are glad that people seem to keep coming back to read more.
We'd be interested to know if you read our blog (even semi-regularly!) so drop us a comment and let us know if you're a reader!

SMBC preachers conference

We took our crossfire leaders to hear the last talk by Don Carson at the preachers conference last night. It was a treat. I was hugely encouraged by his sermon on Jesus raising Lazarus. I will post some more thoughts when I get a chance.

Also I bought Dale Ralph Davis' book on preaching the OT off the bookstall, and have read the first two chapters this morning. I'm not fully convinced by him yet, but I'll keep reading and let you know.

106 things about me

I really enjoyed reading Craigs, so I thought I would do one of my own!

1. I live in Sydey’s inner west
2. Before that I lived in the north western suburbs
3. Otherwise known as the Bible belt of Sydney
4. I never thought I would, but I like to cook
5. My best dish at the moment is Thai curry and apple crumble
6. Both are really easy to do
7. I don’t have a middle name, but my Chinese name is Ming Huey
8. the characters mean “bright”, so my English name was chosen with a correlating meaning – Sophia means “wise”
9. I love that my parents thought about the meaning of my name more than the way it sounded
10. But I don’t like how my parents put my Chinese name on my birth certificate. I didn’t know this until last year, when I had already applied for driver’s licences, bank accounts, etc under “Sophia”. This has caused a lot of problems – the Government doesn’t like it when you have two names
11. I considered changing the name on my birth certificate, but it costs too much money
12. So now I am officially known as Ming Huey Sophia Russell
13. Sorry, that was a really long point
14. I used to edit Sydney uni’s paper Honi Soit
15. It was the best and worst year of my life
16. To do that, I decided not to join any Christian group on campus, and I think it was a good decision
17. I love babies and little children, but I’m nervous around them
18. I feel much more comfortable around teenagers, I think because I know how to talk to them
19. I’d like to have four children one day, but God knows best
20. I’m excited about Annandale Church’s new youth group
21. I’ve never done youth group ministry before, but it's a lot of fun
22. I'm really enjoying going to Christians in the Media - I have grown a lot in my faith since moving here
23. I like clothes and if I were greedy, I’d buy more
24. My favourite designers is Kit Willow and Alannah Hill
25. For gowns, it’s definitely Alex Perry
26. I can’t afford any of their clothes
27. So instead I shop at Target and Sportsgirl
28. I never used to wear make-up
29. Until I bought some really nice make-up for my wedding
30. And I mean REALLY nice…
31. So I started wearing make-up every day to work
32. My husband thinks I look nicer without it
33. I’m trying to stop
34. But it’s addictive
35. The firsts job I ever had was selling chocolates at Darrell Lea
36. It was boring because I was the only one in the shop
37. Sometimes I miss working in retail
38. It wasn’t as stressful as my job is now, except for the training bits at Fairfax
39. I’m not sure if I enjoy my job at the moment
40. I’m not a news hound. Not at all
41. I much prefer features and analysis pieces
42. I have a love/hate relationship with writing. Sometimes it feels like pulling teeth, other times it’s like pouring cream.
43. When I was seven, I wrote my first book, called “Adventure Under the Sea”. Amongst the characters, it had Father Christmas, my brother, a fish called Anne Chovy and another called John Dory
44. Yes, I thought I was very funny
45. I also may have ripped off certain sections of Snuggle Pot and Cuddle Pie
46. My next book was in year eight, high school. A friend wrote a story about me which I didn’t like, so I wrote a not-so-flattering book about her to get even. It probably wasn’t the most mature thing to do
47. I stopped writing fiction after high school
48. But I want to write another book some day, with a readership of more than my family or friends!
49. I'm still not sure what I would write about
50. My husband does 90% of the housework in our home. He does it without being asked, without complaining, without wanting any thanks. He also does it while working hard in his ministry
51. I work full time at a high-stress job and earn around double what he does
52. We are not at all confused with our gender roles
53. My favourite part about marriage is the constant companionship. Sam and I talk about everything
54. Sam is my best friend
55. Our favourite thing to do, to relax, is to go out for coffee in the morning and read books or the paper
56. We both like to read, so combining book collections when we got married was awesome (I jumped from nicking one man’s commentaries to another!!) At the moment, Sam is reading Joe Cinque’s Consolation by Helen Garner. I am reading Jane Austen’s Northhanger Abbey.
57. When I was younger, I liked going out at night and I would often stay out past 1am
58. Now I go to bed at 10:30pm, and I much prefer it that way
59. I like to draw – it relaxes me
60. My favourite artist is Klimt. I am working on a collage at the moment which resembles his art
61. I took Sam to the art gallery a few weeks ago. He really liked the classical art section, so now we are thinking of taking a trip to Canberra to visit the National Art Gallery
62. I forgot to go to my graduation. To this day, my parents still bring it up in conversation
63. I started my honours in film studies
64. I was going to write a paper on synaesthesia in cinema
65. I dropped out halfway to get a job
66. I don’t regret my decision, but I think it would have been a brilliant thesis
67. I love movies and my dream job is to be a film reviewer
68. I have two younger brothers. One of them studies graphic design and is built like a compact tank. The other is studying media at UTS and has curly hair
69. He could grow an afro, and for an Asian, that’s a little weird
70. Yes I’m Asian – my mother is from Indonesia and my dad is from Malaysia
71. I would like to go to their homes one day, when Sam and I can afford it
72. I would also like to travel one day. I would like to go to Europe and South America
73. But I’m content if God does not have that in store for me
74. One thing that makes me really sad is when friends who were once followers of Jesus throw it away for a softer, easier option
75. False teachers make me angry, like firey angry. The older I get, the more I realise that narrow is the path we are to walk
76. I used to think being broad minded was important
77. Now I think being broad minded must be tempered with critical thought
78. I thank God every day my parents taught me to think critically
79. I also thank God for his blessings. I try to do this everyday, but sometimes I forget
80. Jesus is not my boyfriend, but He is the most important thing in my life
81. I love eating chocolate
82. And that’s chocolate anything – icecream, cake, slices, blocks of it, but I try hard to control myself
83. My favourite exercise is going to funk/dance classes. I am looking for a reasonably priced class in my area, so if anyone knows of one, let me know!
84. I don’t generally like Christian music to listen to at home or in the car
85. But I’ll make an exception for the band Third Day
86. Their song “Innocent” makes me cry
87. I’m voting for Kevin Rudd in the next federal election
88. But I don’t think Labor are going to win, at least not this time
89. I think our two-party system is getting us nowhere
90. But I don’t have an alternative
91. I have really started to get into candles lately - big, big, scented ones
92. I light them all over our kitchen and longue room then play nice music
93. I’m quite shy as a person, and it takes me a while to feel comfortable around new people
94. But I’m very good at acting the extrovert when I have to (e.g. when welcoming someone new, doing something up the front, or going into an interview).
95. I don’t enjoy big parties, crowds of people intimidate me
96. But I love small gatherings and laughing with my friends
97. This year has been a year of forming new friendships. Whether through circumstance or intention, in the last few years I've gone from having lots of girlfriends who I felt comfortable around to almost starting again from scratch (save a few really close friends). This has been hard, but I'm excited by what the future will bring.
98. I have only been really badly hurt by people a few times in my life, but sometimes I think that's enough.
99. I enjoy alcohol and red wine, but I can’t drink more than one glass – it’s an asian thing
100. I have only been completely drunk once in my life. It was absolutely horrible – I threw up in the ladies at a bar. I don’t understand how people can do it on a regular basis
101. I’ve never taken drugs, smoked, been in serious trouble at school – no bad girl past here
102. Sam was my first boyfriend and the first boy I’ve ever kissed.
103. I’m supposed to be in bed sleeping – I have a headache and took the day off work
104. And Sam told me to sleep, so this is a little naughty…
105. I might go back to sleep now
106. I wonder what my list will look like in 10 years time!

who gives this women away...

This weekend, Sam and I went to two weddings - both different, both fun and romantic.

One of my favourite parts in weddings is watching the father walk his daughter down the aisle. I love watching the emotion in the father's face. Sometimes it's great joy, other times a little sadness. Some fathers beam with pride, whereas others look more nervous than their daughters.

Saturday's weddings reminded me of my own, of how my father gave me away. My dad married Sam and I which was a very special privilege, but I really appreciated how my dad gave me away. I still remember what he said during our counseling sessions: you're not "mine" to give away, as you belong to God and were placed under my care for a period of time. Now comes the time for God to place you under someone else's care - i.e. Sam's.

I appreciate his words because I can imagine how much some parents struggle to "give" their children away. You raise this person and see her grow up from being a little girl to a young woman, then before long she starts to depend on someone else. It's a good thing to love our children and take care of them, but it is not a good thing to think that we "own" them, to devote our entire lives to them. However, a lot of parents can struggle with this. I appreciate how my dad saw me as his responsibility for a while, but ultimately owned by God, that He was the one who ultimately provided for my needs.

However, I also find the 'handing over' of care, as symbolised in a marriage, helpful. One of the biggest changes I made, from the time I was single to being married to Sam, was moving from having my dad as my spiritual counterpart and mentor to having Sam. On one hand it was quite easy, as Sam incredibly challenges and inspires me. But at the same time there was a sense of loss. I had been so used to going to my dad for spiritual guidance that to go to another man seemed foreign.

However, I think this is necessary for a marriage to work. The Bible talks about marriage as two becoming one flesh. It can't work if the husband and wife are not sharing and encouraging each other on a deep spiritual level. Lots of marriages often run into trouble when the wife (or husband) favours the opinion of her parents - or extending it further, her friends - over her spouse.

Intro God goes to Perth

For our Perth readers - there are seminars on this weekend. Check it out here.

Scripture Update

Had 4 kids get every book of the NT in correct order this morning. How fantastic - I love watching them learn, and be excited about our class. If you ever get a chance to teach a scripture class - take it, it's a real privilege and joy.

What do you think?

Ephesians 1:4 is here.

Sunday Morning Espresso

Yum.

seminar on its way

I've been working really hard this week on my feminism seminar for Wednesday.

For readers out there who may have taken my seminar in the past, I have written a completely new version which is a lot more focused on the theory and practice of third wave feminism. Having the bible teaching off my hands has given me the ability to delve into this area far deeper than I've been able to in the past.

Things that are now covered by the seminar:

* the historical roots of 3rd wave feminism - 2nd wave's hiatus during the abortion debate, the split within the feminist movement over the issue of pornography and its subsequent fracturing, the rise of "pro-sex" feminism, the strong ties between 2nd wave feminism and the sexual revolution of the 60s and 70s
* negative attitudes towards feminism in the 90s
* the rise of raunch culture in the 90s
* the cultural manifestations of 3rd wave - Buffy, Pussycat Dolls, Fergie, Big Brother, etc
* the reclaiming of offensive language
* the complex motherhood/work debate
* the career vs. work dichotomy

This all sounds very lofty and technical, but the language and style of the seminar will be really digestable and easy to understand - lots of examples, clips, pictures (no naughty ones though!), everything explained in plain language.

So why should Christians care about this? (not just my seminar, but the third wave feminist movement...)

While third wave feminism has a huge grasp on our culture - every woman in western society is affected by it in some way or another, simply having listened to the radio or watched TV - most, if not all, our "artillery" is pointed at the 2nd wave movement.

While it's not necessary for every Christian woman to know about this stuff, it can be helpful for young women who are facing the challenge of modern life: the pressure to succeed in their career, current attitudes towards motherhood, the increasing sexualisation of our pop culture, even advertising which specifically uses 3rd wave theories to target us as audiences.

Psalm 22

I've spent tonight finishing the talk for Crossfire tomorrow. We're about to wrap up the series we've been doing on 'Tough Questions'. Tomorrow's talk is from Mark 15 - "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me".
Has Jesus had a mental blank? Surely not - he's told people countless times that he will suffer and die and then rise three days later. So why the question? What does it mean?

It's a direct quote from Psalm 22. And Psalm 22 is full of other things that happen at the death of Jesus too - his garments being divided, his being thirsty, his being mocked, his hands and feet being pierced. David wrote it prophetically about the Christ.

When Jesus utters just one line of it, he's effectively saying "I'm the Psalm 22 guy".

And what did this promised death accomplish? Mark 15:38 "The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom".

Hebrews 10 sums it up for us:

"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

Pray: for our new series beginning next week on Philippians.

Youtube

Their "post video" function doesn't seem to be working at the moment.

Blessed are you...

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me."

I've been thinking about this verse in light of some things that are happening in our area at the moment. I've never doubted that those in Christ will face persecution, but I often forget that persecution is a blessing from God. I would do well to remember that more.

A Solution!

A few weeks ago I posted about how difficult telemarketers are becoming, and it seems that the Australian government have been taking note. Today saw the launch of the national 'do not call register', where you can submit your phone number, making it illegal for business to contact you for the purposes of telemarketing. Sweet. Soph is writing a story on it for her magazine, and tells me that "It's not a blanket registry though - they can still call you at certain times, and opinion pollsters and charities are exempt." But it's definitely a step in the right direction!

Nimby

And the winning city is...Nimby.

Did anyone else read this headline today in the Sydney Morning Herald and wonder what on earth is "Nimby", and what does it have to do with holding the APEC Summit in Sydney?

After consultation with people at Fairfax training today, I discovered that Nimby stands for Not In My Backyard - SMH's attempt at creating its own lexicon for Sydneysiders.

A little lame, I think.

The Acts of the Apostles

Tonight at bible study we started our new series on Acts. I'm looking forward to reading this exciting book in more detail.

One thing I was struck by tonight was how pivotal the coming of the Holy Spirit was in the apostle's understanding of who Jesus is and His mission on earth. The change in these men - their boldness, their knowledge, their power - was amazing. It's like a light had finally dawned on them.

Pray for Stanhope Anglican Church

Under God, Steve Reimer brought me to Christ 9 years ago. Now he's running a young church in Stanhope (in Sydney's North-west). Each month, Steve sends out prayer points which I pray for as soon as they come in. So this month I thought I'd share them with you. Do pray for this young church.

May Prayer Points

Sunday 6th May - We have some Moore College students with us as part of their mission week.
Pray for people to be invited, to come, and to hear a clear gospel talk. Ask God's Spirit to be at work in changing lives. Pray for Ian as he preaches from John 11.

Sunday 13th May - A Mother's Day special.
Pray for mums to be encouraged as we esteem them from the Scriptures.

New people
Give thanks and pray for new people who have come and joined with us the last couple of months, both Christian and non-Christian. Pray for developing relationships and people to know the truth.

Holiday
Give thanks for an upcoming holiday for myself, mid/end of May.

Car for sale

The party Pulsar is up for grabs. Click here. Am willing to part with it at ministry/mates rates. Let me know if you're interested.

Germain Greer vs. Ariel Levy

I've been thinking about the issues in my below post lately because next week, I'm giving a seminar on third-wave feminism for the Jesus on the Gender debate event.

This will be the fourth time I've given my seminar, but I'm super excited about this one because I'm giving it to media students. This means that I can go harder on the theories involved and have a more in depth discussion about the direction feminism is heading in. Also, Dominic Steele will be teaching us what the Bible says on the issue of gender. I am looking forward to learning from what he has to say.

I think I'm going to rework my material though - there is some content on motherhood and the workplace which is still a little weak - mainly because I don't have this experience, and there hasn't been as much written about this area apart from Anne Summer's The End of Equality. I welcome anyone who would like to engage with me on this matter!

The new Girl Power

The Sun Herald's S newspaper ran an article on the Pussycat Dolls last weekend. The writer mentioned how the 21st century notion of Girl Power has changed from sisterhood in Spice Girls to idolising the sexually promiscuous, as portrayed by the Pussycat Dolls.

The article ended with a quote from my old lecturer Catherine Lumby:

"Society just still has a problem with beautiful young women. We worship them, but are terrified for them and we think they need our protection. We are afraid of their sexuality - and if they display that, then they must be victims or don't know what they are doing. But I think that it's just moral panic.

Girls of 14 and even 12 have always liked dressing up and dancing around. So what if they do it to the Pussycat Dolls?"

I've had mixed reactions to her response. When I first read it, I strongly disagreed with her sentiments. There is a big difference between teenagers dancing around to the Spice Girl's lollipop hits and copying stripper moves to lyrics like, "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me". Perhaps it would be different (not necessarily better, but different) if these pop-stars or the likes of Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie had intelligence and substance behind them, but what are these girls often famous for? Sex tapes, losing dramatic amounts of weight and dancing around a pole in burlesque outfits. It seems that feminism has gone too far when it sacrifices substance in its role models for a "porny aesthetic" - to quote the article - with a vacuous core. At least Carrie Bradshaw from Sex In the City had a brain.

But I was thinking today: what about classes that use strip tease moves for fitness? Or knee high boots - once the domain of hookers in the red light district, but now a staple for women in the office? What about singing along to pop songs that may not be overtly sexual, but certainly lean that way? (Christina's Candyman and Fergie's Fergalicious spring to mind...).

A line has to be drawn somewhere, or else we may end up throwing away make-up because even that has unsavoury origins amongst "painted women".

I'm still working this line out for myself, but I think one of them is age. the problem with 12 year old girls dressing up like the Pussycat Dolls is at that age, you're still trying to figure out how to deal with your own body. Being exposed to overtly sexual behaviour without first comprehending your own sexuality can be dangerous. Do these girls know what they are getting into by dressing up like a stripper? And are we giving them false confidence by teaching that it's possible to entice men with their body, yet quip, "you can look, but don't touch"? In some places, it just doesn't work like that. In those situations, you're just endangering, not empowering, young girls.

One small thing I make sure I do is read a lot of books and articles written by female authors - not just historic ones like Austen, but current thinkers who have substance and style (I hope if I one day have a daughter, she will do the same). I also try to listen to a wide variety of "chick" music that isn't all about looking hot, artists like Missy Higgins and Joss Stone. I like to remind myself that there are some strong female voices out there that are worth listening to.

I could go on about this topic, but perhaps I will save my other thoughts for another post! Some final questions though: can a woman be sassy without resorting to being overtly sexual?
When is a girl simply too young for the Pussycat Dolls?

Scripture this morning

This term in my scripture class we're learning how to find things in the Bible. Last week we looked at the contents page and learned about finding references. This week we'll be trying to memorise the books of the New Testament in order, and I think I've got a great scheme.

I've got a bag of Smarties, and if the kids get the order right (with no mistakes) they can have a smartie. But if they attempt it, and make a mistake - they not only forfeit the smartie - but the smartie goes to me! Sweet. Should motivate them to get it exactly right, and allow me to snack my way through the class at the same time!