Promises, promises

Well, well, what do ya know. I still haven't updated the Vox Congo pics and story since the launch. I just struggle to find time to blog lately. Been working on the Vox Congo official site which should finally be up with new templates and information this week.

So while I continue to make unfulfilled promises I thought I might start posting my church newsleter reflections, which is something I am committed to every week. Feel free to let me know what you think, could make for some juicy conversation. I'll see if I can post once a week and anything else is a bonus.

Cheers

Do you have the gift?

What a contentious issue facing the modern day Christian. Recently I have encountered many Christians who when asked the question, ‘what’s your spiritual gift?’ respond with, ‘I have no idea!’

So let’s see if we can unpack this issue. It disturbs so many to the point where people draw the conclusion that they have no ‘spiritual gift’ to invest in the Kingdom of God. Furthermore, people then question if they really have even experienced the Holy Spirit!

Let me first suggest that the question itself is an oppressive, labelling and boxing question that limits our understanding of the work of the Spirit and the mystery of God. Much of our information about the gifts of the Spirit comes from the various letters of the Apostle Paul to the different churches of the first century Mediterranean world. The purpose of Paul’s naming of gifts was not to create a generic understanding of how the Spirit works for all of those lost Christians wondering how to serve God. Quite the opposite!

First of all the issues facing churches were different so Paul addresses them in different ways. The general underlying message is all of us have something to contribute to the Kingdom, yet what one has to contribute is no greater than another, for we are all part of one body in Christ and just as a body functions with many parts that rely on one another so too does the body of Christ.

I would assume that the church in Rome did not have access to the letter Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus. Why should they? They have their own encouragement from Paul. Therefore does that mean the churches didn’t have the full picture? Of course not! For example, the Romans are told that some have the gift of generosity, yet this gift isn’t listed in the letter to the Ephesians. Does this mean there are all these generous givers wandering around Ephesus wondering ‘if I’m not an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher, then I don’t have a spiritual gift’. No Paul just lists ‘examples’ to direct people. We have turned them into a law that limits our expression of God.

You can take all the spiritual gift surveys in the world and still be no more liberated in your understanding of what you have to offer or how. So here’s my suggestion, stop asking ‘what’s you (or my) spiritual gift?’ and start asking, ‘what’s my vocation?’ and ‘how do I most effectively serve God through my vocation?’ You may notice that Paul talks more of vocation and call rather than specific tasks you must do. If you still struggle with this check our church library for a book call ‘Let your life speak’ by Parker J. Palmer, or come and see me.

Here’s another guide to help with your vocational thinking. Paul tells the Church in Galatia this: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Gal 5:22-23a) If you are displaying such fruit as this through your life then you have found your vocation. We can often discover and name our call by assessing the fruit that is produced.

God’s Spirit is among God’s people. The gifting and call of the Spirit must not be limited to a church service on Sunday but a broader purpose that ‘Thy Kingdom come on earth as in heaven.’ Only then will people begin to discover and know that the Spirit who empowers and mobilizes God’s people is real. Every single person who professes a faith in Jesus Christ is empowered for this very purpose without exception. So stop beating yourself up with trying to find a spiritual gift label that suits you. Rather tune into the Holy Spirit and allow the Spirit to tune to you. Talk about your vocational goals with friends and family, and ask yourself how it makes a difference for the Kingdom of God. Here you will find the natural gifting and call of God on your life, not because some survey told you so but because you’re already living it.



The power to forgive

The author of Matthew’s Gospel records Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray in the middle of his famous ‘sermon on the mount’. It has occurred to me that when we pray the “Lord’s Prayer” we fail to pay attention to the most fundamental part of the prayer, ‘Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.’ (Matt 6:12 – NRSV)

Why is this section of the prayer so important? If you open your bibles you can follow with me, because everything recorded in the scriptures has context and purpose, it’s never a stand alone statement. Check out Jesus’ take on the ministry of reconciliation in 5:21-26. Or his bizarre counter cultural advise on non retaliation – ‘turn the other check’ in 5:38-42. To top it all off Jesus dares to say that you must ‘love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you’ 5:43-48.

Finally we come to the end of the Lord’s Prayer (6:9-15), to that bit we overlook because it’s not included in our practised tradition of the Lord’s Prayer. ‘For if you forgive others when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins’. (6:14-15) That final statement tacked on the end of the prayer sends shivers down my spine. So if we as followers of Jesus are to pay any attention to his words and teaching, what does this tell you?

I know what it says to me. Jesus asks the impossible of us! Or does he? My belief is that when a person says ‘yes Jesus I will follow you’, and we are empowered with the Holy Spirit this impossible task becomes possible.

However, as followers of Jesus we do not lose our human nature. It is my observation that many Christians are shackled by this issue. Either they cannot forgive or feel they haven’t received forgiveness. People in their human nature tend to carry baggage such as anger, broken-unreconciled relationships, vendetta, etc as war wounds that are good for nothing except to pull out at parties and compare to see who has the most impressive scar.

The journey of Lent, the journey towards the cross, the journey of discipleship, the Jesus journey is this; forget yourself long enough to let Christ transform you. The prayer from Matthew 6 assumes that the person praying the prayer is forgiven because they themselves have also forgiven. ‘But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins’.

The Lenten activity I’ve included on the next page is a good discipline I urge everyone to try. People will come to me with all sorts of excuses why they shouldn’t try what I am suggesting. My response then is why not? Whose agenda are you following? Is it the Jesus agenda? Jesus calls us to so much more than to just ‘try’ and be nice to each other. You have the tremendous power within you to forgive and not only set other free from the shackles, but you also open yourself up to receive the power of the grace of God (Note: Jesus never says ‘forget’). This is the miracle our world longs to see, the unleashing of a power we all have the ability to use. Instead of just praying for peace lets act on it. Forget yourself long enough to remember the pain of others. “If anyone want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Matt 16:24)



Cultural diversity

Did you know that last week was cultural diversity week? If you saw people walking around wearing orange ribbons that means they stand for the rights and celebration of cultural diversity and will be an active voice against all forms of racism.

March 21st was the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. While it may not seem like an issue in your neighbourhood it is still an issue facing Australia today. This issue is so rife in some countries that it is one of the causes for people to seek asylum in another country.

On this day, March 21st 1960 police opened fire at a peaceful protest against the Apartheid Pass Laws in Sharpeville, South Africa. These laws required ‘blacks’ to carry passbooks containing fingerprint and photographic identification, and controlled their movement and access to 'non black' areas. I spoke to this at the international World Day of Prayer gathering for Knox in early March, as this kind of oppression should shock and compel all Christians everywhere to stand alongside the marginalized in action and voice. 1960 was a long time ago yet this kind of racism still exists.

The colour orange used to recognize this commitment and if I remember correctly orange is the colour commonly used for reconciliation. So if the underlying theme for us is reconciliation then this poses an interesting task for us to flow on from last weeks reflection on the power to forgive. Reconciliation is more than just saying sorry, it’s an action towards a new kind of wholeness.

So I wonder where we’re at with our reconciliation movement here in Australia. National ‘sorry day’ is coming up again towards the end of the year, you know that part where our indigenous community is waiting to hear that magic word from our government, that word which is so painfully hard to say. My sources tell me that 2 weeks ago Prince Edward was the first royal ever to acknowledge Aboriginals as the traditional owners of the land. Not only is that controversial and politically sensitive but, do I hear a sniff of a ‘sorry’ being painfully being squeezed out?

May we continue to be able to understand the rights of all people from all backgrounds learning how to live together in harmony for the bringing about of the Kingdom of God.



Who do you say that I am?

Here we are, entering our final week of Lent before Holy Week and I wonder, have you encountered or been transformed by Christ in a new kind of way? The whole purpose of the rituals of Lent is to prepare your mind, body and spirit to meet with Jesus in a new kind of way.

I spent 4 days in Sydney this week representing Vic/Tas at a Careworks gathering. Careworks is a community and social response arm of our Churches of Christ conference. At this gathering there are 1-2 people per state gathered. We report on what is happening in our states as well as tour the host city to be inspired by how our churches are responding to the community.

One of the things we also did as a group was pray together, dwell in scripture together and wrestle with the call of ministry together. We had a guest from the NSW Conference share a day with us and he led us through an inspirational reflection about what it means to be in Christ. We then continued to wrestle with ‘who is this Christ we follow?’ and ‘what exactly has he called us to do?’
I could not go past this piece of writing that was shared with us written by Dorothy Sayers:
‘The people responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus never accused him of being a bore- on the contrary: they thought him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left to latter generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with yawning ho hum atmosphere of tedium. We have efficiently trimmed the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him meek and mild, and recommended him as fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies. To those who knew him however, he in no way suggested a milk and water person; they objected to him as a dangerous firebrand. True he was tender to the unfortunate, patient with honest inquiries, and humble before heaven, but he insulted respectable clergy by calling them hypocrites…he went to parties in disreputable company and was looked upon as a drunkard & glutton…he assaulted indignant tradesmen and threw them and their belongings out of the temple…he showed no proper deference for wealth or social position…and he asked disagreeably searching questions that could not be answered by rule of thumb. He was emphatically not a dull man in his human lifetime!’

We were asked to write down some words that described, for us who Jesus is. Among my many reflections was this ‘…friend the defeated, down and out, prostitute, drunks, those our society are disgusted by…’.

I stayed on one extra day in Sydney to catch up with a minister who wasn’t on the Careworks agenda and see what had been happening with his church. I managed to snap up a great internet deal for a hotel in Double Bay (second most expensive area of Sydney). Talk about the Ritz! After I had checked in I went for something to eat. At around 9pm I wandered into the unknown to explore a little. I could certainly tell when I had crossed to the ‘wrong side of the tracks’. The roads and paths weren’t as well kept and the streets not as well lit. The cars changed from BMW’s & Mercedes to rusty old VW’s and I found myself on the main strip of Kings Cross.

As I realized where I was, I set a challenge in my own mind to walk up Williams Street and back asking myself the question, ‘who is Jesus and who would he stop and spend time with?’ I realized I was way outside my comfort zone as I walked past more strip clubs then I could count each with a man standing outside trying to lure me in. A large pub on the corner with all it’s door a and windows open was full of drunks yelling and screaming profanities at passers by, and a group of ladies wearing very interesting clothing standing outside a shady looking brothel kindly invited me to join them ‘upstairs’. I kindly declined!

Would Jesus dare to walk down such a street and mingle with such people? My bible tells me ‘yes’. Is this the kind of place you would find a respectable Christian? Certainly not! I was scared out of my brain to tell the truth, right outside my experience and comfort. I don’t know how to relate to these people but I’m willing to give it a try.

Jesus asks of his disciples, “who do the crowds say that I am?” (Lk9:18), then his second question is, But who do you say that I am?” (Lk 9:20). This is a question our Making Connections youth group are pondering and is a question I also leave with you.
Who do you say Jesus is? Is it the Jesus of scriptures? Are you prepared to allow this Jesus to transform you and your outlook on life? Are you prepared to follow this Jesus?



The endings we don’t like

Last week I read from Mick Duncan’s latest book ‘Discipleship in Difficult Places’ after which there was an awesome hush over the congregation. I began with reading these words, “Most of us don’t do endings that well and we try to avoid them.” (p7)

It’s Palm Sunday today, the end of lent and the beginning of ‘Passion’ week as we journey through those final steps with Jesus. While the crowd of disciples shout Jesus’ praises as he enters Jerusalem, Jesus weeps. So what’s that all about then? Since we’re journeying with Jesus through Luke’s Gospel account, it would do us well to be informed as to what is going on.

A reading of Luke’s Gospel tells us that Jesus initiated the entry into Jerusalem yet it is the disciples who create the atmosphere. It is the disciples who lay their cloaks on the donkey, the disciples who begin ‘joyfully praising God in loud voices’, the disciples who lay the cloaks (no palm leaves) on the road. While Jesus acknowledges to the opposing Pharisees that it is right for the disciples to do what they are doing, I wonder what is going on in Jesus’ head at that moment.

Luke makes an important insertion to the story just before they make the trip down the final leg into the great city. Jesus pulled his closest 12 disciples aside and said, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again."
The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about. (Luke 18:32-34)

Wow, are the disciples still clueless? Are they avoiding the inevitable, their beloved leader is about to depart their company? Is this the ending they are trying to avoid because they have their own plans for Jesus to do the miracles in the great city just as they had seen him do in the northern regions?

As we come to the concluding stages of our journey with this series on the challenges of discipleship, we must not ignore what we know Jesus is calling us to. So the call to ‘let go’ of ourselves becomes imminent and we are called to journey with Jesus to the cross. The agenda is much greater than our own. Infact the ultimate agenda is to cast our eyes on the fulfillment of the bringing about of the kingdom of God.

Luke has Jesus weeping of a city he knows will fall in a final battle with the Romans, a city who met their doom, a city who rejected Jesus.

The journey is tough, but the journey is also real and Jesus is on it.




‘Dear God, what do you look like?’

What’s Jesus’ favourite footy team? Did Jesus have a family? How old is Jesus? Did Jesus know Benjamin Franklin? Why did Jesus die on a cross?

After just two half hour lessons of Christian Religious Education (CRE) over two weeks, these are the exact questions (and more) my grade 5/6 class is asking.

I first started teaching CRE in March of this year. I was absolutely terrified thinking about walking into that class room of 22 11-12 year old kids who were going to eat me alive. What if they don’t accept me, my teaching, or even worse, ask questions I can’t answer?

After nearly two months of teaching CRE I now can’t wait for the next lesson and, so their teacher tells me, neither can they. I had put off teaching CRE for about two years. People had asked me and I had turned the opportunity down because of my own fears. Then earlier this year I began to think, ‘If I don’t go into the school to teach CRE, these kids don’t get to hear about Jesus. It’s as simple as that!’

Between Knoxfield Church of Christ, Knox Baptist and City Life Church, we now teach CRE to every year level at the Knox Park Primary School. This is something that until March this year, hasn’t occurred in the school for around 15 years or so.

Our church first initiated a conversation with the school in March 2005 after we received a phone call from World Vision asking us to consider the Kids Hope program. As soon as I mentioned Kids Hope to the principal he excitedly extended an invitation to our church to get involved. Mal White from Kids Hope Aus once said to me, ‘what church in their right mind would turn down an invitation to provide mentoring to ‘at risk kids’ in a local school?’ The reverse is also true, what school in its right mind would turn down such an opportunity for a quality free service for their kids?

So I’ve been spending one hour a week on a Wednesday morning (that’s it, one hour) helping a young person with school work, talking about life issues, play sport and building confidence. Last Wednesday we spent a good half hour throwing tennis balls at footballs stuck in a tree. We retrieved 3 footballs which brought a smile to the principals face and gave my young person and I some quality time together.

I spend 2 hours every Wednesday between 9 and 11am in the school mentoring, teaching, building relationships with staff and making a huge impact. I did not feel adequately equipped for any task and was terrified the first time I walked into the school. Now I walk in and everyone knows me and is happy to see me.

We don’t realize enough the urgency in us being present for the conversations because so many people out there are asking questions like my CRE class. Jesus sent his disciples with a task? Do we own that task? Go to all the world and make disciples. We have the opportunity to do that, we’ve actually been invited. Ever thought about mentoring, teaching CRE, being a prayer partner? We’ll be talking about that as our focus today. There’s also training coming up for all these positions. Please take the time to talk with myself or Maree Slater.



Unity – the impossible dream

I would imagine that if I had the privilege of meeting E.L. Williams, we would have got along famously as he and I have something in common – a dream and a passion for the cause of Christian unity. Unfortunately E.L. passed away while I was still in high school, long before I even contemplated moving to Melbourne, studying theology or even engaging a conversation about the purpose of the Christian Church.

Fortunately for me, E.L.’s passion converted to copious amounts of literature written by him on the topic of Christian unity – or ecumenism. While I wasn’t the most scholarly of students, I picked up a thing or two about E.L. and the issues that fired him about our movement, in Churches of Christ history.

Some how, through my college journey, I managed to acquire one of E.L.’s books ‘Churches of Christ – An interpretation’, personally autographed by him. I pulled it out of my bookcase this week as it is the week or Prayer for Reconciliation and Christian Unity.

Ken Clinton’s reflections on him were that E.L. was convinced the purpose of the Churches of Christ movement was to ‘restore New Testament Christianity as a means to bringing into being the unity of the whole church.’ E.L. himself writes in this book, “emphases upon a gathered community, a free church in a free State, a fellowship of all believers in which there is congregational autonomy with co-operation at all levels, the involvement of all members in mission, and a concern about the ideal of the unity of all Christians in one Church are convictions that stand out in varying degrees in the tradition of Churches of Christ.” (p49)

This information should be nothing new to this church as E.L. was in ministry – twice – here at Knox and was hugely influential in the forming stages of this church. These convictions should be at the forefront of our agenda as a church today.

So is it the impossible dream? It seems churches struggle enough for unity within their own denominations, within their own churches, let alone entire Christian unity. E.L., like me was a firm believer of the power of the Holy Spirit, and that the Church is nothing but a social club without the naming and recognition of the Holy Spirit as the force that brings us together as sends us out. “Christ dwells in the Church through his Spirit making it the fellowship of the Spirit in which there is depth and reality in sharing beyond a mere happy “get-together”.” (p43).

On that famous day of Pentecost around 1970 years ago, the Holy Spirit dwelt among the believers and empowered them to be united beyond lingual, racial, and cultural boundaries. I don’t remember ever reading anywhere that the Holy Spirit ever left the believers. It is in fact what makes us a fellowship – ‘koininia’. They shared everything in common, especially the Holy Spirit.

So is this a reflection of our church today? If not, why not? What is going to be your participating in the fellowship of believers and the realization of a foolish dream?


Do Justice, Love Mercy and walk Humbly with your God

These are the words I heard sung by a soloist who was inspired by the Micah Challenge to do just that. About 40-50 of us were crammed into a meeting room at UNOH’s Springvale location on Wednesday night for UNOH’s latest book launch. We began the night listening to this song being preformed before us and as the chorus filled the room from one powerful voice, another voice behind me joined in, then another from across the room. It wasn’t too long before the entire room was filled with varying and unique voices all chanting the same prayer, ‘do justice, and, love mercy, and, walk humbly with your God.

It was the walking humbly part that grabbed me as I glanced around the room at the profiles of the people gathered for this single, simple purpose. Verity and I were sitting with John Gilmore and Mary Barker as we heard Steve Barrington address us with a message from Ash in Bangkok. Then Mark Connor from City Life spoke to endorse the book, followed by the amazing Mick Duncan, the author of the book – ‘Wild Ones’, explain to us quite simply what being wild ones for Jesus is really all about.

As I sat among these amazing high profile people, in this intimate gathering I took note of others who were gathered with us, ordinary, everyday, broken people from the neighbourhoods where UNOH workers live. Mick was naming the ordinary everyday people as the ‘wild ones’. I was really humbled by the fact that these guys took the time out of their busy schedules to invest in the one on one conversations with people of all sorts. What moved me the most was realizing that the song we began the night really meant nothing until we were all spontaneously singing it together.



Against the status quo

Every Tuesday morning at 7:45am I meet for a breakfast conversation with ministers I used to go to college with, and we dwell in the lectionary scripture for the week. Last week in our conversation, as we reflected on the text, one lecturer who meets with us said, ‘It is the role of the disciple (follower) of Jesus to upset the status quo.’ Now you might be thinking – ‘this sounds like a left wing trouble maker’ – funny that’s what they said about Jesus! It was through our dwelling in the text, reflecting on passages from Acts and John that we could not ignore this fact.

It should not surprise anyone that I’ve been following particular streams of awareness when it comes to social justice and human rights. This weekend I would like to make you aware that it is Amnesty International’s national Candle Day. It begun on Friday 12th of May and finishes today. There are 4 slogans they are promoting for awareness:
Defend refugee human rights
Stop violence against women
Abolish the death penalty
Condemn terror not human rights

Amnesty International is celebrating their 45th year of defending human rights. 45 years of pushing against the status quo. If groups like this don’t do it, who will? In fact, if we really read and absorb the story of Jesus we will hear that this is the commission and call of all Christians.

As I read and become more aware of the issues in our world and the small forces of people who are trying to respond, I can’t help but ask myself, what am I doing, or what can I do, to make an impact? World Vision is another organization which is well known for its response to injustice. According to their website, world vision would suggest that we are all connected to and affected by the issues and really, we are all part of ‘one big village’ www.worldvision.com.au .

So a question that disturbed us all on Tuesday morning was, why should 2 miners trapped in a mine for 14 days get more air play than 30,000 children who die of curable diseases daily? Could it be that 30,000 children dying every day has become part of the acceptable norm and 2 miners in a mine have upset the status quo? That’s just all screwed up! If I have offended anyone I wonder if it is because I said it’s ‘all screwed up’ or because 30,000 children die everyday and we have the ability to stop it. I hope this statistic offends you so much to the point of moving you so much as to do something about it.

What the world we are a part of continually anticipates is for people in positions of power and influence – yes you and me – be disturbed to the point of disgust, and actually embrace the ability we have to stand up for human rights, my some noise, educate ourselves about a cause and give ourselves to it. Stand up against the status quo, it is in fact the greatest thing Jesus did! Check the insert and follow the website links to find out more.

Shalom
Mark