We held a ‘Blue Christmas’ service at our church on Thursday night in partnership with our two local Anglican and two local Uniting churches. We name it Blue Christmas for those for whom Christmas will not be so great this year. Maybe there is an empty chair at the table for Christmas lunch that would normally have seated a loved one you have shared many Christmas’ with. Maybe there is no tree or presents this Christmas because mum & or dad suddenly find themselves unemployed. Our service was held with these people in mind.
It’s times like this that bring memories of expectations you once had flooding back, and the questions you long to be answered begin building up. Expectations like, ‘I thought it would always be this way’, ‘we still planned to do so much together’.’ They are shattered by the unexpected and sometimes the misunderstood assumptions of what seems to be according to the realities of the world we understand and know.
In Matthew 11:2-11 John asks the question of Jesus on all our lips, ‘Are you really the one, or should I expect someone else?’ The question comes as a deep personal question of doubt under circumstances where life has taken a turn for the ‘not so great’. While many commentator believe John’s question is for the benefit of his disciples learning and choose to leave John as the all knowing prophet, I disagree and here’s why.
Jesus’ response to John’s disciples is: ‘Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.’ (Matt 11:4-5 NIV) So I guess that settles it, it’s all good news and Jesus is the guy we’ve been waiting for. Or is it really as simple as that for everyone? John’s changed circumstance is that he is in prison which is why he sent his disciples to ask the question of Jesus. Jesus’ response lacks one critical thing that John is waiting to hear. What I discovered (with the help of a colleague) is much of Jesus’ response comes direct from the book of Isaiah, the prophet who speaks the promises all of Israel are waiting for. You’ll see Isaiah 61:1-2 quoted nearly word for word in Luke 4:18-19, but what’s missing in Jesus’ response in Matthew is the line, ‘proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners’.
John is still captive and will continue to be held captive. ‘Is this the guy Isaiah was talking about, or should we expect someone else?’ Often tragedy strikes us when it’s actually supposed to be a joyful time and we are stuck with a hit in the guts and a crisis of faith. So what do we do with that, when we know the good news is come yet we are still held captive? The only hope we have is that we awake to a new day with a new reality in which the one who bears good news has come and we long even more to share and experience it with one another.
Shalom
Mark Riessen
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Friday, December 07, 2007
Is there any joy in the Christmas insanity?
So what do we make of this silly season we call the lead up to Christmas? Our TV’s radios and junkmail are yelling at us, ‘buy, buy, buy!’ and we groan one more time as we frantically try and fit in another meeting and get our last scraps of work done before the office closes for the Christmas break, and we lament the calendar that tells us we will no longer see our home except to lay our heads on our pillows at night because we have yet another gathering to attend.
Does this kind of thing give you much joy at all! I find it interesting that the majority of people I talk to don’t find any joy in these activities at all, in fact they can’t wait until it’s all over. So why on earth do we subject ourselves to such grueling and painful rituals? Because it’s tradition? Because that’s what is expected of us culturally? I suspect we’ve lost the meaning of tradition to an extent and in fact we no longer even acknowledge the traditions that were supposed to bring us life, hope and joy in the Christmas season. The traditions we subject ourselves to and desperately try to keep up with today have been around less than 100 years.
Let me draw your attention to another tradition. These weeks leading into Christmas is called advent. The fist Sunday of advent (last Sunday) is traditionally the beginning of the church year. It is also the beginning of the 40 days leading up to the feast of Epiphany, the day of celebration when new believers were baptized. There are a little over 4 weeks in the advent season when believers are called to a time of praying and fasting. It is actually a time to slow down and prepare for the coming of Christ. Very countercultural to the 21st century, maybe shopping centre advertising wasn’t so aggressive 1600 years ago.
For me advent is a time of slowing down long enough to recognize that actually, Christ is among us. It is only in the slowing down that we can acknowledge this and truly sense the hope, joy, peace and love we celebrate for the Christmas season. Next time to bump past someone in the shopping centres in your frantic Christmas rush, remember this pondering from the late Archbishop Oscar Romero:
‘Advent should admonish us to discover in each brother and sister that we greet, in each friend whose hand we shake, in each beggar who asks for bread, in each worker who wants to use the right to join a union, in each peasant who looks for work in the coffee groves, the face of Christ. Then it would not be possible to rob them, to cheat them, to deny them their rights. They are Christ, and whatever is done to them, Christ will take as done to him. This is what Advent is: Christ living among us.’
Shalom
Mark Riessen
Does this kind of thing give you much joy at all! I find it interesting that the majority of people I talk to don’t find any joy in these activities at all, in fact they can’t wait until it’s all over. So why on earth do we subject ourselves to such grueling and painful rituals? Because it’s tradition? Because that’s what is expected of us culturally? I suspect we’ve lost the meaning of tradition to an extent and in fact we no longer even acknowledge the traditions that were supposed to bring us life, hope and joy in the Christmas season. The traditions we subject ourselves to and desperately try to keep up with today have been around less than 100 years.
Let me draw your attention to another tradition. These weeks leading into Christmas is called advent. The fist Sunday of advent (last Sunday) is traditionally the beginning of the church year. It is also the beginning of the 40 days leading up to the feast of Epiphany, the day of celebration when new believers were baptized. There are a little over 4 weeks in the advent season when believers are called to a time of praying and fasting. It is actually a time to slow down and prepare for the coming of Christ. Very countercultural to the 21st century, maybe shopping centre advertising wasn’t so aggressive 1600 years ago.
For me advent is a time of slowing down long enough to recognize that actually, Christ is among us. It is only in the slowing down that we can acknowledge this and truly sense the hope, joy, peace and love we celebrate for the Christmas season. Next time to bump past someone in the shopping centres in your frantic Christmas rush, remember this pondering from the late Archbishop Oscar Romero:
‘Advent should admonish us to discover in each brother and sister that we greet, in each friend whose hand we shake, in each beggar who asks for bread, in each worker who wants to use the right to join a union, in each peasant who looks for work in the coffee groves, the face of Christ. Then it would not be possible to rob them, to cheat them, to deny them their rights. They are Christ, and whatever is done to them, Christ will take as done to him. This is what Advent is: Christ living among us.’
Shalom
Mark Riessen
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Give me a reason to praise
The Psalmist writes:
‘By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?’ (Psalm 137:1-4)
When Verity and I first met the 4 men (musicians) from the Congo, we lovingly came to know as ‘the Congo boys’ in 2002, this was the lament we heard from them almost word for word. Being an asylum seeker in Australia on bridging visa type E is one of the most difficult and oppressive processes any foreigner to our shores will face. Australian policies and attitudes towards refugees and asylum seekers are atrocious and embarrassing. As I (and my church at the time) have journeyed with them providing housing, food, medical assistance, financial assistance and advocacy (they have no rights or access to any of these through our government) there have been times where I have been angry and ashamed to be an Australian. While my frustration at the system spurred me on to fight harder for the Congo boys they were quietly in their own way teaching me much about the presence of God in adversity and the meaning of faith.
One day Verity and I had Etienne and Adolphe over for a meal and they shared some of their struggle with us as they often would. They had broken through the language and cultural barriers settling in Australia, had learnt to accept that sleepless nights due to the memories of what they had endured would now become a way of life and learnt how to handle the depression of missing home & family. Through all of this they were still able to look us in the eye, bring a grin to their faces and say, ‘but God is good’. That statement just about knocked me off my chair.
In 2006 Verity and I helped the ‘Congo boys’ now calling themselves ‘Vox Congo’ (the voice of the Congo) release their first CD – ‘Kinanga’ meaning ‘stand up people and hear the good news’. Vox Congo had found their song in a strange land. Their testimony is that they do not feel abandoned by God during this difficult time of displacement. One of their songs, ‘Captivity’ written by Etienne while in Australia is based on Psalm 137. It turns a lament into appreciation by saying, ‘You (God) are the source of human dignity and it’s in your image we are created. Give us the spirit of love and compassion, enable us to love every single person, and to appreciate those who differ from us and share the resources of our nation. And to receive the gifts offered by other people from other cultures, may we all respond to justice as God creates peace and harmony.’
Vox Congo have an infectious faith and positive outlook on life which is enlightening coming from a group of guys who truly understand persecution and oppression. Last time Vox Congo visited Adelaide, Papy was waiting to hear about his residency application. When he returned to Melbourne he found us his application had been accepted. Vox Congo are here again this weekend and Martinse awaits a reply on his application. Let us hope the same answer is waiting for him when he returns home. Etienne and Adolphe are still hanging in the balance seeking asylum.
I chose Psalm 136 for this mornings service because Vox Congo have given me cause for everyday praise.
Shalom
Mark Riessen
‘By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?’ (Psalm 137:1-4)
When Verity and I first met the 4 men (musicians) from the Congo, we lovingly came to know as ‘the Congo boys’ in 2002, this was the lament we heard from them almost word for word. Being an asylum seeker in Australia on bridging visa type E is one of the most difficult and oppressive processes any foreigner to our shores will face. Australian policies and attitudes towards refugees and asylum seekers are atrocious and embarrassing. As I (and my church at the time) have journeyed with them providing housing, food, medical assistance, financial assistance and advocacy (they have no rights or access to any of these through our government) there have been times where I have been angry and ashamed to be an Australian. While my frustration at the system spurred me on to fight harder for the Congo boys they were quietly in their own way teaching me much about the presence of God in adversity and the meaning of faith.
One day Verity and I had Etienne and Adolphe over for a meal and they shared some of their struggle with us as they often would. They had broken through the language and cultural barriers settling in Australia, had learnt to accept that sleepless nights due to the memories of what they had endured would now become a way of life and learnt how to handle the depression of missing home & family. Through all of this they were still able to look us in the eye, bring a grin to their faces and say, ‘but God is good’. That statement just about knocked me off my chair.
In 2006 Verity and I helped the ‘Congo boys’ now calling themselves ‘Vox Congo’ (the voice of the Congo) release their first CD – ‘Kinanga’ meaning ‘stand up people and hear the good news’. Vox Congo had found their song in a strange land. Their testimony is that they do not feel abandoned by God during this difficult time of displacement. One of their songs, ‘Captivity’ written by Etienne while in Australia is based on Psalm 137. It turns a lament into appreciation by saying, ‘You (God) are the source of human dignity and it’s in your image we are created. Give us the spirit of love and compassion, enable us to love every single person, and to appreciate those who differ from us and share the resources of our nation. And to receive the gifts offered by other people from other cultures, may we all respond to justice as God creates peace and harmony.’
Vox Congo have an infectious faith and positive outlook on life which is enlightening coming from a group of guys who truly understand persecution and oppression. Last time Vox Congo visited Adelaide, Papy was waiting to hear about his residency application. When he returned to Melbourne he found us his application had been accepted. Vox Congo are here again this weekend and Martinse awaits a reply on his application. Let us hope the same answer is waiting for him when he returns home. Etienne and Adolphe are still hanging in the balance seeking asylum.
I chose Psalm 136 for this mornings service because Vox Congo have given me cause for everyday praise.
Shalom
Mark Riessen
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Let’s settle this!
Have you ever heard the saying, “revenge is a dish best served cold”? What is that? Have you ever really thought about what that means? Is there ever a best way to serve up revenge to someone? Come on, really, is there anything good about revenge at all for anyone?
The Psalmist writes, “I cry to you for help, O Lord, in the morning my prayer comes before you. Why O Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me?” (Ps 88:13-14) Here is part of a reflection of utter despair, anguish and lament appealing to God for sympathy, intervention, something that will not only take away the pain but bring swift justice against whatever is causing the pain.
Unlike many other Psalms, we don’t get any impression from this one that God has turned the situation around to give the Palmist any cause for praise. In fact it’s quite the opposite. God is silent and seemingly absent. So what must one do when your appeal to the most powerful of forces of intervention seems to fall on deaf ears, when justice is not served and the wrongs against you are too much to bare? You take revenge of course!
Revenge is about taking matters into your own hands. Revenge is about gathering all your hurt, anger and frustration into a nice little cluster, then unleashing it with all its fury towards someone who ‘deserves’ it. Feels good doesn’t it…or does it? What does it achieve really? A short rush of adrenalin?. Maybe a stronger counter serve back at you. What has it achieved really?
Rob Bell, presenter on Nooma, talks about this in one of his presentations titled ‘Luggage’. Referring to Romans 12 he says, ‘don’t take revenge, but leave room for God, in other words let God take care of it.’ Then he goes on to say, ‘Revenge is really saying to God, “God I don’t trust you to deal with this situation, this person has wronged me and I don’t know what you’re going to do here.” Because if we can control revenge then we get to determine the outcome, it’s like you’re saying you don’t trust God to handle this. Well we know best of course. You could think of this handing over to God in the sense that God will take revenge for us because of course God is on our side. Surely, I mean that’s how it was for the Israelites wasn’t it?
This theological interpretation doesn’t sit well with me because it assumes that God’s action will be exactly what I expect, but if I take a broader theological reflection from what I understand of scripture, God will not act in ways we expect. That’s the whole point isn’t it, about handing it over to God? There are times when we do not have the capacity to handle a response to something like this. We could cause serious harm to another by taking revenge, is that what is really going to make you feel good? Is that going to bring you peace?
The Gospel writers have Jesus speaking some crazy language like love your enemies, and turning the other cheek. Surely this alternative could bring about more hope than retaliation could. In the moments when we’re screaming into the darkness for justice and all we get is silence, remember that God is with you and it’s not that God isn’t speaking it’s that you may not be ready or willing to hear what God has to say.
Shalom
Mark Riessen
The Psalmist writes, “I cry to you for help, O Lord, in the morning my prayer comes before you. Why O Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me?” (Ps 88:13-14) Here is part of a reflection of utter despair, anguish and lament appealing to God for sympathy, intervention, something that will not only take away the pain but bring swift justice against whatever is causing the pain.
Unlike many other Psalms, we don’t get any impression from this one that God has turned the situation around to give the Palmist any cause for praise. In fact it’s quite the opposite. God is silent and seemingly absent. So what must one do when your appeal to the most powerful of forces of intervention seems to fall on deaf ears, when justice is not served and the wrongs against you are too much to bare? You take revenge of course!
Revenge is about taking matters into your own hands. Revenge is about gathering all your hurt, anger and frustration into a nice little cluster, then unleashing it with all its fury towards someone who ‘deserves’ it. Feels good doesn’t it…or does it? What does it achieve really? A short rush of adrenalin?. Maybe a stronger counter serve back at you. What has it achieved really?
Rob Bell, presenter on Nooma, talks about this in one of his presentations titled ‘Luggage’. Referring to Romans 12 he says, ‘don’t take revenge, but leave room for God, in other words let God take care of it.’ Then he goes on to say, ‘Revenge is really saying to God, “God I don’t trust you to deal with this situation, this person has wronged me and I don’t know what you’re going to do here.” Because if we can control revenge then we get to determine the outcome, it’s like you’re saying you don’t trust God to handle this. Well we know best of course. You could think of this handing over to God in the sense that God will take revenge for us because of course God is on our side. Surely, I mean that’s how it was for the Israelites wasn’t it?
This theological interpretation doesn’t sit well with me because it assumes that God’s action will be exactly what I expect, but if I take a broader theological reflection from what I understand of scripture, God will not act in ways we expect. That’s the whole point isn’t it, about handing it over to God? There are times when we do not have the capacity to handle a response to something like this. We could cause serious harm to another by taking revenge, is that what is really going to make you feel good? Is that going to bring you peace?
The Gospel writers have Jesus speaking some crazy language like love your enemies, and turning the other cheek. Surely this alternative could bring about more hope than retaliation could. In the moments when we’re screaming into the darkness for justice and all we get is silence, remember that God is with you and it’s not that God isn’t speaking it’s that you may not be ready or willing to hear what God has to say.
Shalom
Mark Riessen
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Habits that give cause for praise or lament
Have you ever seen a nun in her habit? Have you ever wondered what on earth possesses them to wear such outrageous fashion? I have often wondered at the mystery of things I don’t understand. This has been part of my motivation for watching the latest series of Compass: ‘The Abbey’ on the ABC Sunday nights. I decided to park my cynical mind for a moment and watch the unfolding of the stories told by nuns who have chosen to live a life of solitude dedicated to prayer, silence, service and private community. My eyes have been open to appreciate many amazing things about the monastic lifestyle.
The habit a nun wears is not just a bad fashion statement, in fact it is a symbol of the rebellion against conformity. The habit is a sacrament in itself, each part of the garment carrying significant meaning (as acknowledged in a ceremony of receiving the consecrated garb) that reminds the nun of the lifestyle she has chosen to live. A life clothed not in the things of this world, in fact they have renounced the things of this world, but clothed in a habit which would display the life of Christ. The habit reminds her each day that she has reason to praise God and she will praise God through her every action.
We have many habits in life that display who we are. So what are habits? You know, it’s that thing you do when you don’t know you’re doing it, like biting your nails when you’re nervous, or biting your tongue when you’re concentrating really hard. I have this habit where I jig my right leg rapidly when I’m stressed or have a lot on my mind. This habit was discovered by my wife one day when she noticed the dining table was vibrating along with the floor and the things on the table were migrating all by themselves to the edges. It was not until the obvious questions of curiosity were asked by people sitting around the table that my wife and I discovered my habit and stopped.
We all have habits even when we don’t know it, habits that cause certain behaviors. Some people’s habits are constructed deliberately like the habits of those who want to give thanks and praise God through acts of service and worship. There are habits that are counter productive for us that can be self-destructive. They can cause us and others harm. Some of us don’t like the habits we have and we try recondition our lifestyle but fail. Many habits give us cause for lament. Each habit creates a rhythm in life, but how often do we stop and ponder our habit? How happy are you with the habits you have in your everyday life?
‘The nun does not get up in the morning and go to the closet and think to herself, hmmm. I wonder what to wear today. The habit is what she wears.’[1]
What kind of habit will you don today? Will it be a habit of lament or a habit of giving praise to God with your everyday life? This habit is clothing you’re self with Christ intentionally each day and allowing your life to speak out of it.
Shalom
Mark Riessen
[1] Crowder, David, ‘Praise Habit – finding God in sunsets and sushi’, Think 2004, Colorado Springs, p39
The habit a nun wears is not just a bad fashion statement, in fact it is a symbol of the rebellion against conformity. The habit is a sacrament in itself, each part of the garment carrying significant meaning (as acknowledged in a ceremony of receiving the consecrated garb) that reminds the nun of the lifestyle she has chosen to live. A life clothed not in the things of this world, in fact they have renounced the things of this world, but clothed in a habit which would display the life of Christ. The habit reminds her each day that she has reason to praise God and she will praise God through her every action.
We have many habits in life that display who we are. So what are habits? You know, it’s that thing you do when you don’t know you’re doing it, like biting your nails when you’re nervous, or biting your tongue when you’re concentrating really hard. I have this habit where I jig my right leg rapidly when I’m stressed or have a lot on my mind. This habit was discovered by my wife one day when she noticed the dining table was vibrating along with the floor and the things on the table were migrating all by themselves to the edges. It was not until the obvious questions of curiosity were asked by people sitting around the table that my wife and I discovered my habit and stopped.
We all have habits even when we don’t know it, habits that cause certain behaviors. Some people’s habits are constructed deliberately like the habits of those who want to give thanks and praise God through acts of service and worship. There are habits that are counter productive for us that can be self-destructive. They can cause us and others harm. Some of us don’t like the habits we have and we try recondition our lifestyle but fail. Many habits give us cause for lament. Each habit creates a rhythm in life, but how often do we stop and ponder our habit? How happy are you with the habits you have in your everyday life?
‘The nun does not get up in the morning and go to the closet and think to herself, hmmm. I wonder what to wear today. The habit is what she wears.’[1]
What kind of habit will you don today? Will it be a habit of lament or a habit of giving praise to God with your everyday life? This habit is clothing you’re self with Christ intentionally each day and allowing your life to speak out of it.
Shalom
Mark Riessen
[1] Crowder, David, ‘Praise Habit – finding God in sunsets and sushi’, Think 2004, Colorado Springs, p39
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Conformity can destroy us
In Paul’s letter to the Roman church he urges the recipients to be careful not to conform to the standards of their world but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. Paul says, this is how God’s will, will be tested and understood. Eugene Peterson pulls out all the stops in his paraphrase of this text but saying, ‘don’t allow yourselves to become so well adjusted to the world around you that you’re dragged down to their level of immaturity and just simply fit in’.
Richard Lawton wrote an article for the Australian Christian online recently which has created some discussion about what it really means to love our enemies. After all this is one of those outrageous teachings we understand as coming from Jesus that many of us aren’t sure what to do with when confronted with a situation where we cannot reconcile a love for someone we are completely at odds with or has done something terrible against us.
It is times like these when someone raises a topic or a popular teaching we have come to know as a follower of Jesus, that a button is pressed within us and something stirs and rises to the surface. Our temperature may rise a little, our heart might start beating a little faster or tears may begin to well up in our eyes and we begin to defend why we simply cannot do what the Gospel teaches us about the outrageous lifestyle of loving our enemies and forgiving those who have devastated us. It is in the quiet places of renewal that we begin to check in with that which rises up within us and have the opportunities to test it against our understanding of God’s will. That simply being… a place of shalom (peace). Jesus’ forgiveness of sins or love and acceptance of the other (who is unacceptable) is what deeply offended people. This is non-conformity at its best.
So where do we find the models of such lives in our modern day where people are forgiven extraordinary debts and the worst of the worst criminal or deviant is loved? We certainly don’t find such leadership displayed in many of our world leaders. Perhaps this is why many who look from the outside in to the Christian way criticize and call us hypocrites, because they know what we are supposed to be doing but we’re not doing it. It is hard to find many people of influence who testify to the Jesus way, who are prepared to put their reputation and ego on the line for such a way of life
Yet it is this way of life that is freeing of everything of this world that would cage us such as anger, revenge, resentment and vengeance. The way of conformity is to retaliate, get even, take matters into our own hands. If you conform to the standards of this world it will surely destroy you. The way of the Gospel (good news) is to let our very being be renewed by letting go of that which consumes us and imprisons us. Don’t conform because you’re able or the expectations or our world allow you to, allow yourself to be transformed by spaces of renewal which move you to such actions as bringing the light of hope into the shadows of a world which so desperately needs it.
Shalom
Mark Riessen
Richard Lawton wrote an article for the Australian Christian online recently which has created some discussion about what it really means to love our enemies. After all this is one of those outrageous teachings we understand as coming from Jesus that many of us aren’t sure what to do with when confronted with a situation where we cannot reconcile a love for someone we are completely at odds with or has done something terrible against us.
It is times like these when someone raises a topic or a popular teaching we have come to know as a follower of Jesus, that a button is pressed within us and something stirs and rises to the surface. Our temperature may rise a little, our heart might start beating a little faster or tears may begin to well up in our eyes and we begin to defend why we simply cannot do what the Gospel teaches us about the outrageous lifestyle of loving our enemies and forgiving those who have devastated us. It is in the quiet places of renewal that we begin to check in with that which rises up within us and have the opportunities to test it against our understanding of God’s will. That simply being… a place of shalom (peace). Jesus’ forgiveness of sins or love and acceptance of the other (who is unacceptable) is what deeply offended people. This is non-conformity at its best.
So where do we find the models of such lives in our modern day where people are forgiven extraordinary debts and the worst of the worst criminal or deviant is loved? We certainly don’t find such leadership displayed in many of our world leaders. Perhaps this is why many who look from the outside in to the Christian way criticize and call us hypocrites, because they know what we are supposed to be doing but we’re not doing it. It is hard to find many people of influence who testify to the Jesus way, who are prepared to put their reputation and ego on the line for such a way of life
Yet it is this way of life that is freeing of everything of this world that would cage us such as anger, revenge, resentment and vengeance. The way of conformity is to retaliate, get even, take matters into our own hands. If you conform to the standards of this world it will surely destroy you. The way of the Gospel (good news) is to let our very being be renewed by letting go of that which consumes us and imprisons us. Don’t conform because you’re able or the expectations or our world allow you to, allow yourself to be transformed by spaces of renewal which move you to such actions as bringing the light of hope into the shadows of a world which so desperately needs it.
Shalom
Mark Riessen
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Life changing spaces
This past two weeks I have been taking you on a journey of listening to life. It’s been about finding the spaces, the stillness and the silence, the spirit within us longs for and taking a journey deep within to find and reconnect with true self.
My desire is not to take you on a touchy feely, feel good journey of narcissistic self satisfaction, in fact my own practices of this are anything but. It is a journey towards the heart of the soul where we discover what we have neglected or hidden away hoping to ignore. In many cases it is the voice/call of God, and/or the yearning of our vocation, that being which is truly who we are.
The challenge is to emerge with a sense of truly engaging that which we have encountered and allowing it to change us and form us into the true sense of who God has called us to be. It is never an easy journey but it is the most rewarding. It is the journey we must take to truly have an impact on the world around us as a disciple of Jesus called to serve and to be in community with the other and one another. Beginning with this regular practise in life is the best thing we have to offer of ourselves in our mission and ministry as people of Christ.
I could not resist sharing this reflection below with you:
‘One must do it (pray) for God’s sake; but one will not get any satisfaction out of it, in the sense of feeling “I am good at prayer. I have an infallible method.” That would be disastrous, since what we want to learn is precisely our own weakness, powerlessness, unworthiness. Nor ought one to expect a sense of the reality of the supernatural of which I speak. And one should wish for no prayer except precisely the prayer that God gives us – probably very distracted and unsatisfactory in every way.
On the other hand the only way to pray is to pray.
And the only way to pray well is to pray much.
If one has no time for this, then one must at least pray regularly. But the less one prays, the worse it goes. And if circumstances do not permit even regularity, then one must put up with the fact that when one does try to pray, one can’t pray – and our prayer will probably consist of telling this to God.
As to beginning afresh, or where you left off, I don’t think you have any choice. You simply have to begin wherever you find yourself. Make any acts you want to make and feel ought to make, but do not force yourself into feelings of any kind.
You say very naturally that you do not know what to do if you have a quarter of an hour alone. Yet I suspect the only thing to do is to shut out everything and just give yourself to God and beg for God’s mercy and offer God all your distractions.’
From The Spiritual Letters of Dom John Chapman OSB
Shalom
Mark
My desire is not to take you on a touchy feely, feel good journey of narcissistic self satisfaction, in fact my own practices of this are anything but. It is a journey towards the heart of the soul where we discover what we have neglected or hidden away hoping to ignore. In many cases it is the voice/call of God, and/or the yearning of our vocation, that being which is truly who we are.
The challenge is to emerge with a sense of truly engaging that which we have encountered and allowing it to change us and form us into the true sense of who God has called us to be. It is never an easy journey but it is the most rewarding. It is the journey we must take to truly have an impact on the world around us as a disciple of Jesus called to serve and to be in community with the other and one another. Beginning with this regular practise in life is the best thing we have to offer of ourselves in our mission and ministry as people of Christ.
I could not resist sharing this reflection below with you:
‘One must do it (pray) for God’s sake; but one will not get any satisfaction out of it, in the sense of feeling “I am good at prayer. I have an infallible method.” That would be disastrous, since what we want to learn is precisely our own weakness, powerlessness, unworthiness. Nor ought one to expect a sense of the reality of the supernatural of which I speak. And one should wish for no prayer except precisely the prayer that God gives us – probably very distracted and unsatisfactory in every way.
On the other hand the only way to pray is to pray.
And the only way to pray well is to pray much.
If one has no time for this, then one must at least pray regularly. But the less one prays, the worse it goes. And if circumstances do not permit even regularity, then one must put up with the fact that when one does try to pray, one can’t pray – and our prayer will probably consist of telling this to God.
As to beginning afresh, or where you left off, I don’t think you have any choice. You simply have to begin wherever you find yourself. Make any acts you want to make and feel ought to make, but do not force yourself into feelings of any kind.
You say very naturally that you do not know what to do if you have a quarter of an hour alone. Yet I suspect the only thing to do is to shut out everything and just give yourself to God and beg for God’s mercy and offer God all your distractions.’
From The Spiritual Letters of Dom John Chapman OSB
Shalom
Mark
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Riding the wave
Last week I reacquainted myself with the surf down south for the first time this season. It was a perfect day with a good sized solid swell and offshore breeze. I suited up and went down onto the beach. The shoreline was covered with large rock that the wave would eventually come crashing into. There was a narrow sandy channel where if you timed the waves right you could paddle out to the break safely.
Once I was out there sitting on my board among the other surfers the waves suddenly looked a lot bigger than they did from the car park. I could see a set brewing on the horizon and as it approached I began surveying the situation in my mind. There was no escape I was sitting between the rocks and the waves and when it’s your first surf in a while a healthy dose of anxiety creeps up inside you. The anxiety begins to step up a couple of notches when you see the expressions on the other surfers faces change and suddenly they slip from sitting to lying on their board and paddling like crazy for the waves at the back.
As the waves got closer I could see them lining up one after the other with the crest of the wave feathering in the wind. The waves loomed closer and closer and I found I was faced with two choices. Follow part of the crowd that was scrambling like crazy to get behind the waves before they broke or brave it like few others and face the inevitable. I managed to clear the first but knew that the ones behind were bigger and would break sooner. I caught the third wave of the set fro the ride of my life.
As I cut across the face of the wave the wall began to build and build as it edged closer to the shore. I knew I wasn’t going to make the section so two more choices faced me, turn out in front and risk riding the whitewash being smashed into the rocks, or duck in under the wave closing in on me. Either way I was going to get pounded.
I chose the latter…boom! After a couple of seconds I popped up on the other side of the wave in calm waters and braced to duck the next couple of waves of the set. I saw that no-one had escaped the brutal pounding of the surf during that set. While some like me had braved it and taken the plunge on one wave, others who tried to avoid it ended up taking a beating from every wave of the set and they were left weak, coughing and spluttering, heading for that narrow opening to shore.
Sometimes things loom up in our lives and line up like waves on the horizon. Often every instinct within us tells us we must avoid getting pounded at all costs, yet they’re there on the horizon and we’re sitting in the water and we know eventually we’re going to have to face whatever it is we are trying to avoid. We always have choices, do we go with the crowd or do we listen to the voice within that says with reason, ‘you must deal with this eventually’?
Eventually the wave catches up and our character is tested as to how we will ride this wave or are we still scrambling to avoid it. You will come face to face with it eventually, it’s either take you unwillingly or you’ll be prepared for the ride. It’s amazing the confidence we can get out of facing that which causes anxiety within us and popping out the other end still in tact. The looming wave on the horizon will inevitably hit the shore. When you’re sitting between it and the shore the question is, what are you going to do with it?
Shalom
Mark
Once I was out there sitting on my board among the other surfers the waves suddenly looked a lot bigger than they did from the car park. I could see a set brewing on the horizon and as it approached I began surveying the situation in my mind. There was no escape I was sitting between the rocks and the waves and when it’s your first surf in a while a healthy dose of anxiety creeps up inside you. The anxiety begins to step up a couple of notches when you see the expressions on the other surfers faces change and suddenly they slip from sitting to lying on their board and paddling like crazy for the waves at the back.
As the waves got closer I could see them lining up one after the other with the crest of the wave feathering in the wind. The waves loomed closer and closer and I found I was faced with two choices. Follow part of the crowd that was scrambling like crazy to get behind the waves before they broke or brave it like few others and face the inevitable. I managed to clear the first but knew that the ones behind were bigger and would break sooner. I caught the third wave of the set fro the ride of my life.
As I cut across the face of the wave the wall began to build and build as it edged closer to the shore. I knew I wasn’t going to make the section so two more choices faced me, turn out in front and risk riding the whitewash being smashed into the rocks, or duck in under the wave closing in on me. Either way I was going to get pounded.
I chose the latter…boom! After a couple of seconds I popped up on the other side of the wave in calm waters and braced to duck the next couple of waves of the set. I saw that no-one had escaped the brutal pounding of the surf during that set. While some like me had braved it and taken the plunge on one wave, others who tried to avoid it ended up taking a beating from every wave of the set and they were left weak, coughing and spluttering, heading for that narrow opening to shore.
Sometimes things loom up in our lives and line up like waves on the horizon. Often every instinct within us tells us we must avoid getting pounded at all costs, yet they’re there on the horizon and we’re sitting in the water and we know eventually we’re going to have to face whatever it is we are trying to avoid. We always have choices, do we go with the crowd or do we listen to the voice within that says with reason, ‘you must deal with this eventually’?
Eventually the wave catches up and our character is tested as to how we will ride this wave or are we still scrambling to avoid it. You will come face to face with it eventually, it’s either take you unwillingly or you’ll be prepared for the ride. It’s amazing the confidence we can get out of facing that which causes anxiety within us and popping out the other end still in tact. The looming wave on the horizon will inevitably hit the shore. When you’re sitting between it and the shore the question is, what are you going to do with it?
Shalom
Mark
Friday, September 28, 2007
Stilling the soul
The weather report wasn’t joking when a gale force wind warning was issued for coastal areas on Friday.
I had been watching the swell charts on the coastal watch website all week as a massive swell was building off the coast, looking for a surfing opportunity. Having already had a taste of this swell on my day off this week I had been anticipating Friday morning when the swell was at its peak. I had built up these images in my mind of the perfect big waves I might encounter.
I had it all planned out. I was going to get up early Friday morning and hit the surf at dawn before coming into the office. Reality hit when I arrived at the cliffs overlooking Southport. The massive squalling 2-3metre swell was completely wind blown and unforgiving. As I stood there the gusts of wind literally knocked me off my feet. Once I was sitting back in my car I knew this was getting ridiculous when the car was violently rocking back and forth with the force of the wind and the rain was coming at me sideways.
Well so much for that! Don’t you hate it when you build up expectations in your mind about how things could be or ought to be? It’s even worse when you’re met head on with an uncontrollable, uncontainable storm that leaves you feeling powerless and defeated.
I find moments like these to be deeply spiritual moments and I’m not talking about those warm fuzzy feelings with God, I’m talking about those Psalm 88 feelings. You know, the kind of lament that wonders ‘what on earth is happening here? Is this real? Where are you God?’ The wind is so strong, the ocean is unforgiving and things are blowing in at you sideways and there is no way you can even find your centre let along find God in it all.
The writer of Matthew's Gospel inserts a story about a storm immediately following an explanation about the cost of following Jesus. This story doesn’t exist so much because early Christians decided to retell a story about a bunch of fishermen in a boat with Jesus during a storm. The language alone in many English translations tells us there is much more to this than a story about a storm. The story teller uses dramatic language like ‘without warning’, ‘ferocious storm’, being ‘overcome’, ‘we are perishing’! It communicates the language of the cries of the soul when we are unexpectedly overcome with the challenges life throws at us from left field.
One thing we can often overlook or not realize in the chaos of it all is that in our story as in the Gospel story, Jesus is present in the storm. The knowledge that God is present is comforting for some but not enough for others. It is the words uttered by Jesus in the midst of the storm in Mark’s Gospel that offers us the greatest hope in the midst of the storm, “Quiet! Be still!”
May you find time for the stilling of your soul.
Shalom Mark
I had been watching the swell charts on the coastal watch website all week as a massive swell was building off the coast, looking for a surfing opportunity. Having already had a taste of this swell on my day off this week I had been anticipating Friday morning when the swell was at its peak. I had built up these images in my mind of the perfect big waves I might encounter.
I had it all planned out. I was going to get up early Friday morning and hit the surf at dawn before coming into the office. Reality hit when I arrived at the cliffs overlooking Southport. The massive squalling 2-3metre swell was completely wind blown and unforgiving. As I stood there the gusts of wind literally knocked me off my feet. Once I was sitting back in my car I knew this was getting ridiculous when the car was violently rocking back and forth with the force of the wind and the rain was coming at me sideways.
Well so much for that! Don’t you hate it when you build up expectations in your mind about how things could be or ought to be? It’s even worse when you’re met head on with an uncontrollable, uncontainable storm that leaves you feeling powerless and defeated.
I find moments like these to be deeply spiritual moments and I’m not talking about those warm fuzzy feelings with God, I’m talking about those Psalm 88 feelings. You know, the kind of lament that wonders ‘what on earth is happening here? Is this real? Where are you God?’ The wind is so strong, the ocean is unforgiving and things are blowing in at you sideways and there is no way you can even find your centre let along find God in it all.
The writer of Matthew's Gospel inserts a story about a storm immediately following an explanation about the cost of following Jesus. This story doesn’t exist so much because early Christians decided to retell a story about a bunch of fishermen in a boat with Jesus during a storm. The language alone in many English translations tells us there is much more to this than a story about a storm. The story teller uses dramatic language like ‘without warning’, ‘ferocious storm’, being ‘overcome’, ‘we are perishing’! It communicates the language of the cries of the soul when we are unexpectedly overcome with the challenges life throws at us from left field.
One thing we can often overlook or not realize in the chaos of it all is that in our story as in the Gospel story, Jesus is present in the storm. The knowledge that God is present is comforting for some but not enough for others. It is the words uttered by Jesus in the midst of the storm in Mark’s Gospel that offers us the greatest hope in the midst of the storm, “Quiet! Be still!”
May you find time for the stilling of your soul.
Shalom Mark
Friday, September 07, 2007
The Greatest Love
Have we relinquished our responsibility to uphold the greatest commandment? I’m not talking about any old commandment, I’m talking about the ‘Greatest’! Each of the synoptic Gospels have more than one account of someone asking Jesus the all important question, ‘what is the greatest commandment?’ Whether in whatever context the question is asked, the answer is blatantly untamed and unforgettable. ‘Love God with all your heart, soul and mind & love your neighbour as yourself.’ Jesus dares to suggest that not only is this the greatest command but that it defines all others. If every single thing we did was motivated by the greatest commandment to love God and others, we would be living exactly as God intended in a state of shalom. But the reality shows that we are far from shalom in our world, so what has gone wrong, what’s wrong with living the greatest commandment?
In case you haven’t noticed the APEC Summit is being held in Sydney. The media frenzy seems to surround and follow the leader of the ‘greatest’ nation and hang on his every word. Among many things I continue to hear this reverberating echo of propaganda that perpetuates the fear that has captivated us since 2001. The answers from the greatest leaders of our day is war, tighter security, dominance, more power and more fear. Whatever happened to the greatest commandment as a strategy from our great leaders?
I turn my attention towards a popular singer who by the way seems to have more swing with the general public than any politician. Bono from U2 sings one of his songs with the late Luciano Pavarotti called “Miss Sarajevo”. When introducing the song Bono says, ‘We would like to turn our song into a prayer, and the prayer is, that we don’t become a monster in order to defeat a monster.”
Bono sings the words:
“Is there a time for changing values, is there a time for wearing a blind?
Is there a time for keeping your mouth shut, is this a time for human rights?”
While behind him the words of the UN declaration begin scrolling behind him starting with article 1; ‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a Spirit of love’.
The translation of Pavarotti’s piece in the song reads;
“You say that the river finds the way to the sea, and as the river you'll come to me Beyond the borders and the thirsty lands, you say that as river Love will come And I cannot pray anymore, and I cannot hope in love anymore
And I cannot wait for love anymore”
Have we relinquished our responsibility to love? Have we given up because it’s too hard? The greatest commandment is far from being the greatest in today’s climate. Yet I believe that the love Jesus speaks of can still be the greatest. While there are still millions of people in our world who claim to be followers of Jesus, I would hope that a large percentage would seek to take him seriously at his words and actions. You can by loving one person at a time.
Shalom Mark
"Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt; sing like nobody's listening; live like it's heaven on earth." – Mark Twain
In case you haven’t noticed the APEC Summit is being held in Sydney. The media frenzy seems to surround and follow the leader of the ‘greatest’ nation and hang on his every word. Among many things I continue to hear this reverberating echo of propaganda that perpetuates the fear that has captivated us since 2001. The answers from the greatest leaders of our day is war, tighter security, dominance, more power and more fear. Whatever happened to the greatest commandment as a strategy from our great leaders?
I turn my attention towards a popular singer who by the way seems to have more swing with the general public than any politician. Bono from U2 sings one of his songs with the late Luciano Pavarotti called “Miss Sarajevo”. When introducing the song Bono says, ‘We would like to turn our song into a prayer, and the prayer is, that we don’t become a monster in order to defeat a monster.”
Bono sings the words:
“Is there a time for changing values, is there a time for wearing a blind?
Is there a time for keeping your mouth shut, is this a time for human rights?”
While behind him the words of the UN declaration begin scrolling behind him starting with article 1; ‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a Spirit of love’.
The translation of Pavarotti’s piece in the song reads;
“You say that the river finds the way to the sea, and as the river you'll come to me Beyond the borders and the thirsty lands, you say that as river Love will come And I cannot pray anymore, and I cannot hope in love anymore
And I cannot wait for love anymore”
Have we relinquished our responsibility to love? Have we given up because it’s too hard? The greatest commandment is far from being the greatest in today’s climate. Yet I believe that the love Jesus speaks of can still be the greatest. While there are still millions of people in our world who claim to be followers of Jesus, I would hope that a large percentage would seek to take him seriously at his words and actions. You can by loving one person at a time.
Shalom Mark
"Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt; sing like nobody's listening; live like it's heaven on earth." – Mark Twain
Where church and community meet
I had the most amazing opportunity to be in a room and engage in conversation with some amazing people last Wednesday night. Nina and I had organized a meet and greet between Kids Hope mentors and the parents of the children we were mentoring in the staff room at the Hawthorndene Primary School. All but one of our mentors made it to the gathering and more than half of the children were represented by their parents.
As Tania (school principal) and I shared with the parents and mentors the details of the Kids Hope program and our vision for it, I felt a real sense that we were united as one with a single purpose and vision and that was to invest in the lives of children in our community and help them become the best they can be. As we broke into more informal conversation I took a moment to step back and take a snap shot of the room in my mind. In every conversation I saw a member of my church deeply engrossed in conversation with a stranger in the community. There was laughter and deep and meaningfuls. I saw one mentor having a laugh with the school principal who had previously been suspicious of these church folk and another mentor in a joyful conversation with the child she was mentoring and the child’s mum.
Our local newspaper ‘The Messenger’ has been highlighting the persona and presence of the church in stories over this last couple of weeks. A couple of weeks ago it published some glum but true figures of percentage drops in church attendance then went on to ask questions of relevance, ‘is the church old school?’, ‘is it dying?’, and the like. In this weeks Messenger I notice they are playing to the tune of the larger churches in our community saying how successful they are. While attendance in churches are up you could say that what attracts the crowds to the churches is nothing short of Christian consumerism.
We can run sexy church services all we like but what difference is that really making in the community around them? I love Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica because in the letters introduction Paul states some amazing things about the nature of this faith community. Not only had they become an example to the other believers but their faith in God had become known everywhere. People were turning from the idols of the old life and toward the living God. My guess is they weren’t running sexy worship services in the synagogues but were doing life with their community is such a way that inspired love, faith and hope and people were being transformed by their daily interactions with followers of ‘the Way’ who were simply imitating Christ in their community.
On that Wednesday night I was so proud to be part of a church that isn’t defined only by what we do on Sunday. It was a real celebration for me to hear a parent suggest that we should meet like this more often and the principal to applaud it. After an hour and a half I was the first to leave and everyone else looked as if they were settled for the night.
There are so many places where churches are and ought to be meeting and getting to know the community around them and it isn’t always on the ‘churches turf’. Even in our local primary school the Spirit of God goes before us and prepares a place where mentors, children, families and staff and transformed by hope.
Shalom
Mark Riessen
As Tania (school principal) and I shared with the parents and mentors the details of the Kids Hope program and our vision for it, I felt a real sense that we were united as one with a single purpose and vision and that was to invest in the lives of children in our community and help them become the best they can be. As we broke into more informal conversation I took a moment to step back and take a snap shot of the room in my mind. In every conversation I saw a member of my church deeply engrossed in conversation with a stranger in the community. There was laughter and deep and meaningfuls. I saw one mentor having a laugh with the school principal who had previously been suspicious of these church folk and another mentor in a joyful conversation with the child she was mentoring and the child’s mum.
Our local newspaper ‘The Messenger’ has been highlighting the persona and presence of the church in stories over this last couple of weeks. A couple of weeks ago it published some glum but true figures of percentage drops in church attendance then went on to ask questions of relevance, ‘is the church old school?’, ‘is it dying?’, and the like. In this weeks Messenger I notice they are playing to the tune of the larger churches in our community saying how successful they are. While attendance in churches are up you could say that what attracts the crowds to the churches is nothing short of Christian consumerism.
We can run sexy church services all we like but what difference is that really making in the community around them? I love Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica because in the letters introduction Paul states some amazing things about the nature of this faith community. Not only had they become an example to the other believers but their faith in God had become known everywhere. People were turning from the idols of the old life and toward the living God. My guess is they weren’t running sexy worship services in the synagogues but were doing life with their community is such a way that inspired love, faith and hope and people were being transformed by their daily interactions with followers of ‘the Way’ who were simply imitating Christ in their community.
On that Wednesday night I was so proud to be part of a church that isn’t defined only by what we do on Sunday. It was a real celebration for me to hear a parent suggest that we should meet like this more often and the principal to applaud it. After an hour and a half I was the first to leave and everyone else looked as if they were settled for the night.
There are so many places where churches are and ought to be meeting and getting to know the community around them and it isn’t always on the ‘churches turf’. Even in our local primary school the Spirit of God goes before us and prepares a place where mentors, children, families and staff and transformed by hope.
Shalom
Mark Riessen
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Finding our confession
Becoming transparent to ourselves is not the easiest of disciplines to master. In the frailty of our humanness we constantly struggle for balance to be the kind of person that others will like. Yet there is the voice within, that often quiet suppressed voice within that asks whether you are acceptable to you and we are confronted with realities we would rather not acknowledge.
Parker J. Palmer, author of my favorite book, ‘Let your Life Speak’ is confronted by moments that cause him to acknowledge, ‘the life I am living is not the same as the life that wants to live in me.’ He uses an old Quaker saying to speak encouragement and sometimes confrontation of self into peoples lives, ‘let your life speak.’ The most confronting yet most life giving statement I’ve ever heard.
When we begin to acknowledge the true self that is emerging from within we are sometimes hesitant because we may not like what we see or are apprehensive about how our true self may be received by others. I once heard a friend of mine say to another, ‘receive yourself’.
I think it is difficult to find your self, your true self unless you can find and speak your confession before God. Until we are able to do that we deny the self that exists within and impose our denial on others. It is not until we can find our confession that we can receive ourselves and in turn receive others.
‘God help me find my confession;
The truth within me which is hidden from my mind;
The beauty or the ugliness I see elsewhere but never in myself;
The stowaway which has been smuggled into the darkness of my heart,
Which puts my heart off balance and causes me pain,
Which wearies and confuses me,
Which tips me in false directions and inclines me to destruction,
The load which is not carried squarely because it is carried in ignorance.
God help me find my confession;
Help me across the boundary of my understanding,
Lead me into the darkness that I may find what is concealed;
That I may confess it towards the light;
That I may carry my truth in the centre of my heart;
That I may carry my cross wisely
And bring harmony into my life and into the world’
Author unknown
May you be encouraged to find your confession, to let your life speak and allow harmony to prosper in your life and the world around you.
Shalom
Mark
Parker J. Palmer, author of my favorite book, ‘Let your Life Speak’ is confronted by moments that cause him to acknowledge, ‘the life I am living is not the same as the life that wants to live in me.’ He uses an old Quaker saying to speak encouragement and sometimes confrontation of self into peoples lives, ‘let your life speak.’ The most confronting yet most life giving statement I’ve ever heard.
When we begin to acknowledge the true self that is emerging from within we are sometimes hesitant because we may not like what we see or are apprehensive about how our true self may be received by others. I once heard a friend of mine say to another, ‘receive yourself’.
I think it is difficult to find your self, your true self unless you can find and speak your confession before God. Until we are able to do that we deny the self that exists within and impose our denial on others. It is not until we can find our confession that we can receive ourselves and in turn receive others.
‘God help me find my confession;
The truth within me which is hidden from my mind;
The beauty or the ugliness I see elsewhere but never in myself;
The stowaway which has been smuggled into the darkness of my heart,
Which puts my heart off balance and causes me pain,
Which wearies and confuses me,
Which tips me in false directions and inclines me to destruction,
The load which is not carried squarely because it is carried in ignorance.
God help me find my confession;
Help me across the boundary of my understanding,
Lead me into the darkness that I may find what is concealed;
That I may confess it towards the light;
That I may carry my truth in the centre of my heart;
That I may carry my cross wisely
And bring harmony into my life and into the world’
Author unknown
May you be encouraged to find your confession, to let your life speak and allow harmony to prosper in your life and the world around you.
Shalom
Mark
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Reclaiming sacred spaces
Where did those sacred spaces?
As a child I remember complaining to my mum or dad that I was bored and had nothing to do, as if to think they would drop everything and create an exciting activity or take us somewhere to do something.. I reflect back and I remember days when the whole family was at home, they were called Saturdays, sacred days of rest. Dad would be outside pottering in the shed or around the garden, mum would be pottering around the house maybe doing the laundry or preparing food in the kitchen and my brother and sister and I would get on each others nerves. I know for me I would wind up my brother and sister for nothing more but entertainment. It’s amazing how impatient I used to be with boredom. Now in my adult years I long to reclaim those sacred Saturdays, those carefree days of rest I had little to no appreciation for as a child.
So what happened? Where did all those Saturdays go? When was the point in my life when I auctioned off my sacred spaces and replaced them with busyness, with always doing something? What could have possessed me to do such a thing? Even as I write now I find I am struggling to find a space where I am not interrupted.
I wonder, as we develop into young adults and our vision grows to take on the world, whether we even stop to consider the sacrifices we might make in order to peruse the various things that capture our hearts and minds. All I can do is speak from my own experience and admit that my passion for the mission of Jesus is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it is a motivating factor for my call to ministry and a curse because I constantly find myself in places where my time is consumed with all the things I’m passionate about. I had sacrifices my spaces.
One of the primary causes for my loss of space in my life was my inability to associate myself with the word ‘no’. Not only did I allow myself to feel the guilt trip of even wanting to say no to someone else, I couldn’t even say no to myself.
By my second year at college I was on so many committees and had aligned myself with so many causes on top of being a full time student, part time student minister and a part time Kmart worker while balancing a relationship with my fiancée in another state, I had pretty much lost myself. It was our second year of formation for ministry and a local minister was invited to present to the class. He said these wise words which I’ll never forget, ‘Never should on yourself and never should on anyone else.’ That wise old minister was Mark Bulter. He was talking to us about self care and giving permission for us to release ourselves from those things that clog up the spaces in our lives.
From that time on I began to gauge each movement or ministry I was giving myself too by asking myself whether it was life giving or not. If something was life giving for me I would give myself to it knowing that in turn it was giving to me. However when things began to suck the life out of me I knew it was time to revisit the ‘should’ theory and let go of that which was not life giving for the sake of my own being. At the recent Magarey lectures there was a particular comment that came from both presenters that has stayed with me. It was more of a ‘heads up’ comment for me than anything, ‘be aware of the self that I inflict upon others’. If I am not caring for myself who am I then inflicting upon those I am called into pastoral ministry with? Whenever I ‘should’ something upon myself I also ‘should’ upon others
Space to be
The evangelist who wrote the Gospel we call Matthew records a couple of exciting events in chapter 14. Slotted in there between the feeding of 5000 and walking on water is a couple of verses that if we are not careful can so easily look past. Jesus sends his disciples away in a boat and works at getting rid of the crowd so he can have the space to himself that he originally intended to have. A solitary space for prayer and reflection. I remember reflecting on this passage with the elders of the church recently, and expressing to them my longing for the spaces and the desire to send the crowds away just for a moment to create that space I need to have. It was a stark reminder of the fact that old habits die hard and it is a real discipline to claim the spaces to be.
When I was 20 years old, right at that time in my life when I was ready to launch and take on the world; in my pursuit for wanting to really ‘do’ something with my life I signed up for this new program being piloted by OMB called the Discipleship Development Program. There was part of me that was looking for meaning in what I was to do with my life and part of me just searching for me.
As I participated in the program, myself with 6 others my age journeyed with different leaders and ministers through a year of formation and preparation. Towards the official end of the program we ended up in the strange land we knew very little about called Vanuatu. Even though I spent 9 weeks immersed in the culture I don’t think I really appreciated what this experience was doing for the formation of my being until I went back as a leader of the DDP in my final year at college.
While the language of Bislema wasn’t too difficult to pick up there was another foreign language that took me a while to understand. It was a language that was very attractive to me and I began to learn how to speak it, but because it was so foreign to my context of living I struggle everyday to relearn it. It was the language of ‘being’. There is a saying in Vanuatu. When someone passes you by and the ask you how you are or what you are up to today a common response is, ‘stap nomo’. The literal translation of this attractive Bislema saying is, ‘I’m just stopping, or being today and nothing else.’
We tend to need to qualify our existence with responses that indicate how busy we are in our culture today. We define ourselves as human ‘doings’ rather than human ‘beings’ as if there is shame in not being busy with something. Sometimes we elaborate or make something up just to sound impressive, particularly when it comes to sharing stories about our ministry (one colleague confessed this to me the other day). Why have we sub-consciously deemed it socially inappropriate to stand in conversation with a group of other ministers and respond to the question, ‘what have you been doing with your church?’ with, ‘we’re being with God’. There is no shame embodying all aspects of the nature of Jesus in ministry, including those of self care as shown in Matthew 14 where Jesus took time to be with by himself and spend time with God.
While in Vanuatu the most prominent passage of scripture I began to dwell with and continue to do so is from Psalm 46. As Eugene Peterson translates it, “Be still, step out of the traffic and know that I am God.” This have become a crucial passage of scripture for me to dwell on as a reality check. More and more as I am getting to know my new congregation I hear the groans of busy people not being able to find the time to tune into God, or any space of being for that matter. I met with a couple over coffee the other day and one of them began lamenting the fact that they have no space in their life at all for anything other than work. As I found myself offering counsel on how to create those spaces I realized I could not unless I too had created those spaces in my own life journey so that I had spaces of re-creation not only to speak into the lives of others but to speak into my own life.
Re-creating spaces
At the age of 19 I engaged a spiritual director for the first time. I wasn’t really too sure why I was seeing a spiritual director except for the fact that I was going through a tough time, searching for meaning and vocational direction and it was recommended to me. It took me a little while to warm to the idea of meeting regularly with a spiritual director but once it was established there was no way I would be without it. Spiritual direction helped me discern my call for ministry and as a consequence relocating my life to the CCTC campus for 4 years. It didn’t take me long to secure spiritual direction for my formation journey through college and my continual formation as a minister out of college. It is a discipline that is not only helpful for listening to that voice within, that voice of vocation, that suppressed voice not often heard yet is screaming out for you to listen to the life your inner self wants to live but is not living; it is also a discipline in helping me identify the spaces I need for the re-creation of my soul.
Once I had built a relationship with my last spiritual director we began to learn together what the appropriate trigger questions were to ask me to discover whether I was giving way to my re-creating spaces or not. For some reason these are the spaces we relinquish far too often for ‘more important things’, yet are the spaces we need the most for our being. Ever session I would have with my spiritual director would begin with these questions which once unpacked would burrow down deep into my being where my soul was encountering God all over again, being refreshed, renewed, recreated. This begs me to ask the question, ‘why would I compromise those re-creating spaces for anything?’
Together we discovered there were at least three questions that needed to be asked; ‘Have you spent time staring into your fish tank?’, ‘Have to spent time sitting on your surfboard?’, ‘Have you spent time in the garden?’ We discovered the three spaces where my soul encounters and re-creates with God. As you may be able to discover from the questions, the three solitary spaces I enjoy the most and have the ability to create on a regular basis are my hobby in keeping fish in aquariums (it’s serious but relaxing business), surfing, and gardening. If I hadn’t made time for any of these spaces in the time between spiritual direction questions then there was something wrong with my being and believe me I knew it, the self within me would groan in agony that it hadn’t being cared for. So my spiritual director and I would spend time discovering and exploring the blocks that are preventing my soul from re-creating and making my spirit groan. In the times of spiritual groaning I remember naming some disturbing images that described how that which was within me was feeling and while helpful the reality was not good.
Why am I like this? Why do I allow my spirit to be caged and suppressed? Ministry isn’t supposed to be like this! So I made more of an effort to create the spaces I needed and met with my spiritual director more regularly for a time until we had worked through the groaning of my spirit so that it was celebrating life again.
A final thought
A book that I read in college and am reading again now is called ‘Let your life speak – listening for the voice of vocation’ by Parker J. Palmer. It is easily in my top 5 books of all time because it has helped me so much with listening to the voice within. Parker reflects on a poem in the opening pages saying that it helps open his eyes the fact that, “the life I am living is not the same as the life that wants to live in me.”[1] That is a sad reality that Palmer goes on to explore is such helpful ways. I particularly find it sad that too many of us are not living the lives we are called to live both in our ministry vocation and life in general. We find ourselves living in ways we never set out to live, in ways purely to please the expectations of others and not true to the call God has placed on our hearts.
Palmer, who has journeyed through the valley of doubt and depression, writes, “self-care is never a selfish act – it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer others.” [2] It’s after re-reading of a pearl of wisdom such as this that I say to myself, ‘if I don’t look after the greatest gift I have to offer I have nothing to offer anyone at all.’ More importantly I would have nothing to offer my beautiful wife who in many ways is the person I am most accountable to for my own self care and waits so patiently at times as well as supporting me to put in place the disciplines that help me become the best of that which I am called to be – Mark.
Those sacred spaces we reminisce about once having and dream of one day having again don’t have to be figments of imaginations. In fact we have a responsibility to our selves and duty of care to others in our life to reclaim those spaces with no apologies so that we can continue to re-create and renew that which is within us and be the people God has called us to be.
Shalom
Mark Riessen
Published by Churches of Christ ministry work group for 'Shaping for Ministry'
[1] ‘Let Your life Speak’, Parker J. Palmer, Jossey-Bass 2000, p2
[2] ‘Let Your life Speak’, Parker J. Palmer, Jossey-Bass 2000, p30
As a child I remember complaining to my mum or dad that I was bored and had nothing to do, as if to think they would drop everything and create an exciting activity or take us somewhere to do something.. I reflect back and I remember days when the whole family was at home, they were called Saturdays, sacred days of rest. Dad would be outside pottering in the shed or around the garden, mum would be pottering around the house maybe doing the laundry or preparing food in the kitchen and my brother and sister and I would get on each others nerves. I know for me I would wind up my brother and sister for nothing more but entertainment. It’s amazing how impatient I used to be with boredom. Now in my adult years I long to reclaim those sacred Saturdays, those carefree days of rest I had little to no appreciation for as a child.
So what happened? Where did all those Saturdays go? When was the point in my life when I auctioned off my sacred spaces and replaced them with busyness, with always doing something? What could have possessed me to do such a thing? Even as I write now I find I am struggling to find a space where I am not interrupted.
I wonder, as we develop into young adults and our vision grows to take on the world, whether we even stop to consider the sacrifices we might make in order to peruse the various things that capture our hearts and minds. All I can do is speak from my own experience and admit that my passion for the mission of Jesus is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it is a motivating factor for my call to ministry and a curse because I constantly find myself in places where my time is consumed with all the things I’m passionate about. I had sacrifices my spaces.
One of the primary causes for my loss of space in my life was my inability to associate myself with the word ‘no’. Not only did I allow myself to feel the guilt trip of even wanting to say no to someone else, I couldn’t even say no to myself.
By my second year at college I was on so many committees and had aligned myself with so many causes on top of being a full time student, part time student minister and a part time Kmart worker while balancing a relationship with my fiancée in another state, I had pretty much lost myself. It was our second year of formation for ministry and a local minister was invited to present to the class. He said these wise words which I’ll never forget, ‘Never should on yourself and never should on anyone else.’ That wise old minister was Mark Bulter. He was talking to us about self care and giving permission for us to release ourselves from those things that clog up the spaces in our lives.
From that time on I began to gauge each movement or ministry I was giving myself too by asking myself whether it was life giving or not. If something was life giving for me I would give myself to it knowing that in turn it was giving to me. However when things began to suck the life out of me I knew it was time to revisit the ‘should’ theory and let go of that which was not life giving for the sake of my own being. At the recent Magarey lectures there was a particular comment that came from both presenters that has stayed with me. It was more of a ‘heads up’ comment for me than anything, ‘be aware of the self that I inflict upon others’. If I am not caring for myself who am I then inflicting upon those I am called into pastoral ministry with? Whenever I ‘should’ something upon myself I also ‘should’ upon others
Space to be
The evangelist who wrote the Gospel we call Matthew records a couple of exciting events in chapter 14. Slotted in there between the feeding of 5000 and walking on water is a couple of verses that if we are not careful can so easily look past. Jesus sends his disciples away in a boat and works at getting rid of the crowd so he can have the space to himself that he originally intended to have. A solitary space for prayer and reflection. I remember reflecting on this passage with the elders of the church recently, and expressing to them my longing for the spaces and the desire to send the crowds away just for a moment to create that space I need to have. It was a stark reminder of the fact that old habits die hard and it is a real discipline to claim the spaces to be.
When I was 20 years old, right at that time in my life when I was ready to launch and take on the world; in my pursuit for wanting to really ‘do’ something with my life I signed up for this new program being piloted by OMB called the Discipleship Development Program. There was part of me that was looking for meaning in what I was to do with my life and part of me just searching for me.
As I participated in the program, myself with 6 others my age journeyed with different leaders and ministers through a year of formation and preparation. Towards the official end of the program we ended up in the strange land we knew very little about called Vanuatu. Even though I spent 9 weeks immersed in the culture I don’t think I really appreciated what this experience was doing for the formation of my being until I went back as a leader of the DDP in my final year at college.
While the language of Bislema wasn’t too difficult to pick up there was another foreign language that took me a while to understand. It was a language that was very attractive to me and I began to learn how to speak it, but because it was so foreign to my context of living I struggle everyday to relearn it. It was the language of ‘being’. There is a saying in Vanuatu. When someone passes you by and the ask you how you are or what you are up to today a common response is, ‘stap nomo’. The literal translation of this attractive Bislema saying is, ‘I’m just stopping, or being today and nothing else.’
We tend to need to qualify our existence with responses that indicate how busy we are in our culture today. We define ourselves as human ‘doings’ rather than human ‘beings’ as if there is shame in not being busy with something. Sometimes we elaborate or make something up just to sound impressive, particularly when it comes to sharing stories about our ministry (one colleague confessed this to me the other day). Why have we sub-consciously deemed it socially inappropriate to stand in conversation with a group of other ministers and respond to the question, ‘what have you been doing with your church?’ with, ‘we’re being with God’. There is no shame embodying all aspects of the nature of Jesus in ministry, including those of self care as shown in Matthew 14 where Jesus took time to be with by himself and spend time with God.
While in Vanuatu the most prominent passage of scripture I began to dwell with and continue to do so is from Psalm 46. As Eugene Peterson translates it, “Be still, step out of the traffic and know that I am God.” This have become a crucial passage of scripture for me to dwell on as a reality check. More and more as I am getting to know my new congregation I hear the groans of busy people not being able to find the time to tune into God, or any space of being for that matter. I met with a couple over coffee the other day and one of them began lamenting the fact that they have no space in their life at all for anything other than work. As I found myself offering counsel on how to create those spaces I realized I could not unless I too had created those spaces in my own life journey so that I had spaces of re-creation not only to speak into the lives of others but to speak into my own life.
Re-creating spaces
At the age of 19 I engaged a spiritual director for the first time. I wasn’t really too sure why I was seeing a spiritual director except for the fact that I was going through a tough time, searching for meaning and vocational direction and it was recommended to me. It took me a little while to warm to the idea of meeting regularly with a spiritual director but once it was established there was no way I would be without it. Spiritual direction helped me discern my call for ministry and as a consequence relocating my life to the CCTC campus for 4 years. It didn’t take me long to secure spiritual direction for my formation journey through college and my continual formation as a minister out of college. It is a discipline that is not only helpful for listening to that voice within, that voice of vocation, that suppressed voice not often heard yet is screaming out for you to listen to the life your inner self wants to live but is not living; it is also a discipline in helping me identify the spaces I need for the re-creation of my soul.
Once I had built a relationship with my last spiritual director we began to learn together what the appropriate trigger questions were to ask me to discover whether I was giving way to my re-creating spaces or not. For some reason these are the spaces we relinquish far too often for ‘more important things’, yet are the spaces we need the most for our being. Ever session I would have with my spiritual director would begin with these questions which once unpacked would burrow down deep into my being where my soul was encountering God all over again, being refreshed, renewed, recreated. This begs me to ask the question, ‘why would I compromise those re-creating spaces for anything?’
Together we discovered there were at least three questions that needed to be asked; ‘Have you spent time staring into your fish tank?’, ‘Have to spent time sitting on your surfboard?’, ‘Have you spent time in the garden?’ We discovered the three spaces where my soul encounters and re-creates with God. As you may be able to discover from the questions, the three solitary spaces I enjoy the most and have the ability to create on a regular basis are my hobby in keeping fish in aquariums (it’s serious but relaxing business), surfing, and gardening. If I hadn’t made time for any of these spaces in the time between spiritual direction questions then there was something wrong with my being and believe me I knew it, the self within me would groan in agony that it hadn’t being cared for. So my spiritual director and I would spend time discovering and exploring the blocks that are preventing my soul from re-creating and making my spirit groan. In the times of spiritual groaning I remember naming some disturbing images that described how that which was within me was feeling and while helpful the reality was not good.
Why am I like this? Why do I allow my spirit to be caged and suppressed? Ministry isn’t supposed to be like this! So I made more of an effort to create the spaces I needed and met with my spiritual director more regularly for a time until we had worked through the groaning of my spirit so that it was celebrating life again.
A final thought
A book that I read in college and am reading again now is called ‘Let your life speak – listening for the voice of vocation’ by Parker J. Palmer. It is easily in my top 5 books of all time because it has helped me so much with listening to the voice within. Parker reflects on a poem in the opening pages saying that it helps open his eyes the fact that, “the life I am living is not the same as the life that wants to live in me.”[1] That is a sad reality that Palmer goes on to explore is such helpful ways. I particularly find it sad that too many of us are not living the lives we are called to live both in our ministry vocation and life in general. We find ourselves living in ways we never set out to live, in ways purely to please the expectations of others and not true to the call God has placed on our hearts.
Palmer, who has journeyed through the valley of doubt and depression, writes, “self-care is never a selfish act – it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer others.” [2] It’s after re-reading of a pearl of wisdom such as this that I say to myself, ‘if I don’t look after the greatest gift I have to offer I have nothing to offer anyone at all.’ More importantly I would have nothing to offer my beautiful wife who in many ways is the person I am most accountable to for my own self care and waits so patiently at times as well as supporting me to put in place the disciplines that help me become the best of that which I am called to be – Mark.
Those sacred spaces we reminisce about once having and dream of one day having again don’t have to be figments of imaginations. In fact we have a responsibility to our selves and duty of care to others in our life to reclaim those spaces with no apologies so that we can continue to re-create and renew that which is within us and be the people God has called us to be.
Shalom
Mark Riessen
Published by Churches of Christ ministry work group for 'Shaping for Ministry'
[1] ‘Let Your life Speak’, Parker J. Palmer, Jossey-Bass 2000, p2
[2] ‘Let Your life Speak’, Parker J. Palmer, Jossey-Bass 2000, p30
Shaping our story for transformation
Last weekend I spent 3 days being disturbed and inspired at UNOH’s Surrender conference. We were stirred by speakers such as Tim Costello, Shane Claiborne, Jackie Pullinger, Mike Frost and Ash Barker. Attending this conference unlike many others I have attended, is not designed to give you a feel good experience or equip you with the ‘10 steps to grow your church’. It is purely and authentically and raw and unapologetic call to each person to surrender everything and follow Jesus with a particular focus on serving the poor.
Every year I attend the conference I need serious debriefing because it really shakes me up as to whether I am being true and authentic in my calling. There is a process of recontextualizing the challenge put to me to serve the poor, and understanding how that is lived out in Blackwood. So far I’ve managed to identify a number of ways I/we can authentically live out the Gospel so that it is good news to the many who need to hear it here in the Adelaide Hills. However our service is much more than just random acts of kindness, we are driven by a deeper calling.
I went to a work shop at the conference titled ‘How to overcome your fear of the ‘E’ word.’ That’s right the ‘E’ word…’evangelism’! It’s a word that makes me nervous because I associate it with many negative experiences friends of mine have had with Christianity. People in the workshop were asking questions of the panel such as, ‘once I’ve evangelized someone how do I disciple them?’ or ‘do I need an ongoing relationship with them?’ Questions that just seemed ridiculous to me.
Evangelism is derived from the Greek word euagelion. It literally means great or joyful news. I would suggest that if what we do in the name of Jesus in our community, whether it be in word or action, is not joyful news to the ears and experiences of the people we interact with, then it’s not evangelism and certainly isn’t the Jesus way. Many people think evangelism is a sales pitch to get people to believe the same things as you as if you offer a tight little package they sign up for.
Good news is spoken into peoples lives in all shapes and forms. As followers of Jesus we must committed to sharing good news in relationship with others, inviting them into a discipleship journey. The good news in the context of the Jesus experience is life transformative. I would suggest that we as followers of Jesus need to become astutely tuned into understanding the shaping of our own story of formation because it is that story of formation or transformation that captures peoples hearts and minds. It is that story that helps people understand why this Jesus movement is so captivating, uplifting and life giving.
All the speakers at the conference were speaking to the theme of ‘Fools for a revolution’. The message was clear that this Jesus movement is a revolution for those who are foolish enough to believe that the world could be turned on its head. A world where the marginalized are integrated into society, the oppressed are set free and those who experience poverty in any aspect of life are liberated by good news. And the leader of this movement is the biggest fool of all, we know him as Jesus, the one we all testify to as being responsible for the way we live our lives.
May you live your lives foolishly through a story, your story, that is shaped to transform the lives of others.
Shalom
Mark Riessen
Every year I attend the conference I need serious debriefing because it really shakes me up as to whether I am being true and authentic in my calling. There is a process of recontextualizing the challenge put to me to serve the poor, and understanding how that is lived out in Blackwood. So far I’ve managed to identify a number of ways I/we can authentically live out the Gospel so that it is good news to the many who need to hear it here in the Adelaide Hills. However our service is much more than just random acts of kindness, we are driven by a deeper calling.
I went to a work shop at the conference titled ‘How to overcome your fear of the ‘E’ word.’ That’s right the ‘E’ word…’evangelism’! It’s a word that makes me nervous because I associate it with many negative experiences friends of mine have had with Christianity. People in the workshop were asking questions of the panel such as, ‘once I’ve evangelized someone how do I disciple them?’ or ‘do I need an ongoing relationship with them?’ Questions that just seemed ridiculous to me.
Evangelism is derived from the Greek word euagelion. It literally means great or joyful news. I would suggest that if what we do in the name of Jesus in our community, whether it be in word or action, is not joyful news to the ears and experiences of the people we interact with, then it’s not evangelism and certainly isn’t the Jesus way. Many people think evangelism is a sales pitch to get people to believe the same things as you as if you offer a tight little package they sign up for.
Good news is spoken into peoples lives in all shapes and forms. As followers of Jesus we must committed to sharing good news in relationship with others, inviting them into a discipleship journey. The good news in the context of the Jesus experience is life transformative. I would suggest that we as followers of Jesus need to become astutely tuned into understanding the shaping of our own story of formation because it is that story of formation or transformation that captures peoples hearts and minds. It is that story that helps people understand why this Jesus movement is so captivating, uplifting and life giving.
All the speakers at the conference were speaking to the theme of ‘Fools for a revolution’. The message was clear that this Jesus movement is a revolution for those who are foolish enough to believe that the world could be turned on its head. A world where the marginalized are integrated into society, the oppressed are set free and those who experience poverty in any aspect of life are liberated by good news. And the leader of this movement is the biggest fool of all, we know him as Jesus, the one we all testify to as being responsible for the way we live our lives.
May you live your lives foolishly through a story, your story, that is shaped to transform the lives of others.
Shalom
Mark Riessen
Helpless & fragile
My cousin Kylie gave birth to a boy on Tuesday June 26th. He died on Sunday July 1st. After church on Sunday I received a call from Kylie to come down to the Women’s & Children’s hospital as soon as I could. Her and her partner wanted me to perform a baptism and blessing for their fragile baby as they had now come to the point of making the decision of turning off the machines and letting their fragile little boy die.
It is so hard to come to terms with the fragility and mortality of life. We watch on helpless to do anything at times but we live in a world of possibilities and amazing medical and technological break throughs. There is always that lingering hope in our minds that the miracle we’re looking for will come through.
But what about when it doesn’t. How do we face the reality of our own inadequacy and helplessness? How do we embrace the reality of accepting that there are things we cannot control and allow ourselves to grieve appropriately?
For this fragile little life there was nothing that could be done. He was born with an underdeveloped heart that even a mercy flight to Melbourne couldn’t fix. I preformed a ritual beside the tiny bed where he lay with his parents beside me. It was a ritual of letting go and handing this fragile life back to God. And we were left with our own fragile emotions that we’d rather push deep down and our helplessness that we don’t know what to do with. Yet helpless is not hopeless and so we live on in the hope that God gives strength to the helpless and holds onto the fragile and we learn that little bit more how precious the gift of life is.
Shalom, Mark
From the very beginning I loved you,As I made plans to hold you and rock you:You were tiny and helpless as you lay in my womb,But something went wrong and soon you were gone;My young heart was broken, my tears fell like rain,I'd never known such heartache and pain.
I wonder who you look like, me or your dad,Do you have my smile and his eyes?Would you have been big and tall or tiny and small?We had dreams for you that reached to the skies.It was long, long ago and I still miss you so,Thanks to Jesus, I'll see you in heaven.
I'll hold you in heaven someday,When my trials on earth pass away;The angels have rocked you, the Father watches over you,I know you're waiting for me;I never could hold you or tell you "Goodbye",But I'll hold you in heaven someday. .
(c) 1998 Jo Ann Taylor
It is so hard to come to terms with the fragility and mortality of life. We watch on helpless to do anything at times but we live in a world of possibilities and amazing medical and technological break throughs. There is always that lingering hope in our minds that the miracle we’re looking for will come through.
But what about when it doesn’t. How do we face the reality of our own inadequacy and helplessness? How do we embrace the reality of accepting that there are things we cannot control and allow ourselves to grieve appropriately?
For this fragile little life there was nothing that could be done. He was born with an underdeveloped heart that even a mercy flight to Melbourne couldn’t fix. I preformed a ritual beside the tiny bed where he lay with his parents beside me. It was a ritual of letting go and handing this fragile life back to God. And we were left with our own fragile emotions that we’d rather push deep down and our helplessness that we don’t know what to do with. Yet helpless is not hopeless and so we live on in the hope that God gives strength to the helpless and holds onto the fragile and we learn that little bit more how precious the gift of life is.
Shalom, Mark
From the very beginning I loved you,As I made plans to hold you and rock you:You were tiny and helpless as you lay in my womb,But something went wrong and soon you were gone;My young heart was broken, my tears fell like rain,I'd never known such heartache and pain.
I wonder who you look like, me or your dad,Do you have my smile and his eyes?Would you have been big and tall or tiny and small?We had dreams for you that reached to the skies.It was long, long ago and I still miss you so,Thanks to Jesus, I'll see you in heaven.
I'll hold you in heaven someday,When my trials on earth pass away;The angels have rocked you, the Father watches over you,I know you're waiting for me;I never could hold you or tell you "Goodbye",But I'll hold you in heaven someday. .
(c) 1998 Jo Ann Taylor
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Great news for Vox Congo - Papy a PR
For 4 or 5 years now the band Vox Congo have captured and warmed the hearts of thousands of Australians not only with their amazing energetic music and strong Gospel message, but also with their tragic story of fleeing their country (DRC) to seek asylum here in Australia. It is a story that tugs at the heart strings and their past 5 and a half years here in Australia have been a real rollercoaster ride of appeal and rejection. Not only had their plea for asylum in Australia been rejected but their home country didn't want them back. They refused to reissue passports after they had expired so when the guys were ordered to leave our country they could go nowhere. They were labeled as non-persons with no country. This means no health care, no government assistance, no rights.
Etienne, Adolphe, Martinse and Papy expressed deep faith and determination to continue hoping in a hopless and helpless situation. They appealed to the compassionate hearts of people who make desisions within our immigration system and waited patiently in prayer. My wife Verity and I, journeyed with them through the uncertianty and the heart ache, as week after week we would ask, 'have you heard anything yet?', only to meet long faces and a sadened response. Yet through it all they continued to play their music with energy, to sing their song of joy in a strange land and Adolphe would always say to me, 'yet God is good and we have faith'. It has been an awe inspiring journey.
We shared in celebration with Papy and Martinse at the end of last year and early this year when immirgation informed them they were allowed to apply for residency. We then went through the gruling task of preparing the application which wasn't guarunteed to succeed and wondering where on earth they were going to find the $3000 each to lodge the application.
It is with great excitement and tears in my eyes that I share this amazing news with you.
Papy Mbikulu Wena (keyboard player and drummer for Vox Congo) received a letter from immigration yesterday, Wednesday June 27th, to say he is now a PERMANENT RESIDENT IN AUSTRALIA!!!! This great news has been 5 years and 8 months in the making. Through much heart ache and struggle we have journeyed to this point of celebration.
Praise God for the amazing journey, the prayers, the persistence, the courage and the hope we have that yes we can actually make a difference when we stand with those who cannot and ought not stand alone.
I had the privilege of sharing in tears of joy with Papy on the phone last night. He would like me to spread the news far and wide that he is now free to make a home with his family here in Australia. His wife Rebekkah is relieved to say the least and daughter Jael will continue to grow in the comfort of knowing that her dad will not have to leave her behind.
On behalf of the family I extend special thanks and gratitude beyond what words could ever express to Urban Neighbours Of Hope and the Knoxfield Church of Christ for their endless support and tireless efforts in standing with the ‘Congo Boys’ as they appealed to our government again and again for compassion. Your advocacy support, compassion and prayers made all the difference. One particularly special thankyou goes to Robyn for her amazing financial gift to help Papy apply for residency. Robyn, you are truly amazing and will not be forgotten.
I am still overwhelmed with the news and can’t wait to bring similar news once Martinse finds out the answer to his residency application. We are yet to find out if Etienne and Adolphe are allowed to apply for the same rights, they continue to seek asylum in Australia. Please continue your prayers for them. They now have even greater hope and expectation for this great news to flow through all of their stories.
Please share this story through you networks and newsletters as I have lost many contacts through my move to Adelaide. I promised people I would let them know when these guys reached the final goal they had been praying and hoping for, for so long. When citizenship comes up I’ll make sure you all hear about it so you can go to the ceremony. I know I’ll be there.
Post your comments at www.myspace.com/voxcongo so papy can receive your encouragement.
Shalom
Mark
Etienne, Adolphe, Martinse and Papy expressed deep faith and determination to continue hoping in a hopless and helpless situation. They appealed to the compassionate hearts of people who make desisions within our immigration system and waited patiently in prayer. My wife Verity and I, journeyed with them through the uncertianty and the heart ache, as week after week we would ask, 'have you heard anything yet?', only to meet long faces and a sadened response. Yet through it all they continued to play their music with energy, to sing their song of joy in a strange land and Adolphe would always say to me, 'yet God is good and we have faith'. It has been an awe inspiring journey.
We shared in celebration with Papy and Martinse at the end of last year and early this year when immirgation informed them they were allowed to apply for residency. We then went through the gruling task of preparing the application which wasn't guarunteed to succeed and wondering where on earth they were going to find the $3000 each to lodge the application.
It is with great excitement and tears in my eyes that I share this amazing news with you.
Papy Mbikulu Wena (keyboard player and drummer for Vox Congo) received a letter from immigration yesterday, Wednesday June 27th, to say he is now a PERMANENT RESIDENT IN AUSTRALIA!!!! This great news has been 5 years and 8 months in the making. Through much heart ache and struggle we have journeyed to this point of celebration.
Praise God for the amazing journey, the prayers, the persistence, the courage and the hope we have that yes we can actually make a difference when we stand with those who cannot and ought not stand alone.
I had the privilege of sharing in tears of joy with Papy on the phone last night. He would like me to spread the news far and wide that he is now free to make a home with his family here in Australia. His wife Rebekkah is relieved to say the least and daughter Jael will continue to grow in the comfort of knowing that her dad will not have to leave her behind.
On behalf of the family I extend special thanks and gratitude beyond what words could ever express to Urban Neighbours Of Hope and the Knoxfield Church of Christ for their endless support and tireless efforts in standing with the ‘Congo Boys’ as they appealed to our government again and again for compassion. Your advocacy support, compassion and prayers made all the difference. One particularly special thankyou goes to Robyn for her amazing financial gift to help Papy apply for residency. Robyn, you are truly amazing and will not be forgotten.
I am still overwhelmed with the news and can’t wait to bring similar news once Martinse finds out the answer to his residency application. We are yet to find out if Etienne and Adolphe are allowed to apply for the same rights, they continue to seek asylum in Australia. Please continue your prayers for them. They now have even greater hope and expectation for this great news to flow through all of their stories.
Please share this story through you networks and newsletters as I have lost many contacts through my move to Adelaide. I promised people I would let them know when these guys reached the final goal they had been praying and hoping for, for so long. When citizenship comes up I’ll make sure you all hear about it so you can go to the ceremony. I know I’ll be there.
Post your comments at www.myspace.com/voxcongo so papy can receive your encouragement.
Shalom
Mark
Minimum Chips
I arrived at my office after being out on Wednesday afternoon to find a homeless man sitting on his bag at our office doorstep. He was asking for some assistance and I immediately went into defensive mode, I have a strict policy on not giving money to people who ask for it. Before I reacted I responded with, ‘can I get you something to eat?’ He was very appreciative and in fact that is all he wanted. I went across to the fish and chips shop with him and gave him a choice of anything on the menu. All he wanted was minimum chips. I wonder what the guy behind the counter thought as I placed the order. Here was a young man in a spiffy long black coat with a dirty old, smelly homeless guy beside him. We shared a chip and a chat and Alan (the homeless) guy said to me, ‘so are you the minister over there.’ I said yes and he responded by saying that I had restored his faith in people and the church.
I have mixed feelings about my encounter on Wednesday. There is part of me that cannot bear to see someone suffer or go without and another part of me that is suspicious of those who like to take advantage of compassionate suckers.
As Jesus walked the road through Samaria to Jerusalem he encountered all sorts of people along the way. Some were keen to follow him and others were reluctant but to all he explained that to join the Jesus movement it would come at a personal cost to them. He also explained the urgency of service for the Kingdom of God right here on our doorstep. Right here on our doorstep!
Sometimes it’s in the little things, like in a bag of minimum chips, that help us to become the people of God we are called to be, people who are not afraid to exert some sense of personal cost so the kingdom of God can truly come, a sense that our life counted for something. Whether it be a financial cost, the cost of our time, the cost of lending a compassionate ear…
I got a call yesterday with some amazing news. One of the asylum seekers Verity and I had journeyed with for 5 years, Papy, a band member of Vox Congo, was granted his permanent residency yesterday. What an amazing celebration it was for us to share in the news after sharing in a long journey of doing lots of little things to help and advocate for the guys. It gave me a deep sense that my life counted for something and that it was worth spending some of my time and energy on the little things that make big differences in peoples lives.
Shalom
Mark
I have mixed feelings about my encounter on Wednesday. There is part of me that cannot bear to see someone suffer or go without and another part of me that is suspicious of those who like to take advantage of compassionate suckers.
As Jesus walked the road through Samaria to Jerusalem he encountered all sorts of people along the way. Some were keen to follow him and others were reluctant but to all he explained that to join the Jesus movement it would come at a personal cost to them. He also explained the urgency of service for the Kingdom of God right here on our doorstep. Right here on our doorstep!
Sometimes it’s in the little things, like in a bag of minimum chips, that help us to become the people of God we are called to be, people who are not afraid to exert some sense of personal cost so the kingdom of God can truly come, a sense that our life counted for something. Whether it be a financial cost, the cost of our time, the cost of lending a compassionate ear…
I got a call yesterday with some amazing news. One of the asylum seekers Verity and I had journeyed with for 5 years, Papy, a band member of Vox Congo, was granted his permanent residency yesterday. What an amazing celebration it was for us to share in the news after sharing in a long journey of doing lots of little things to help and advocate for the guys. It gave me a deep sense that my life counted for something and that it was worth spending some of my time and energy on the little things that make big differences in peoples lives.
Shalom
Mark
Jesus with skin on
I just spent last Tuesday and Wednesday in Melbourne at the World Vision headquarters doing Kids Hope Co-ordinator training. I know, when is this guys going to stop! It was a very enriching couple of days and even though I’ve been involved with Kids Hope for more than 2 years I was enlivened once again by the stories and possibilities of what can happen when a church and a school develop an active relationship through one church member mentoring one child for one hour a week.
The idea of the 2 day training was to equip me with all the resources to train and equip mentors to participate with this ministry. The Kids Hope directors are excited that Blackwood Church of Christ will be the very first church in metropolitan Adelaide to run with the program and they are excited that we will be the example to others in SA about how a successful Kids Hope program is run. Furthermore, if our conversations go well with Hawthorndene Primary School, they will be the very first school and will be the example to all the other schools. What an awesome responsibility and privilege we have to impact the broader metro Adelaide area through such a simple ministry of compassion and love.
Through the stories I kept hearing over and over during this couple of days, I kept hearing the phrase, ‘We have an opportunity to be Jesus with skin on’. This phrase began to grow on me as I realized what it meant to the many schools around Australia to see Christians actually doing something practical to serve their community with no expectation of recognition or bum’s on seats in their churches. The stories kept flowing from story tellers with tears in their eyes as we heard about schools, families, children and yes even churches being transformed through the power of building effective and quality relationships of service. For the churches it was about embracing the opportunity to be Christ in the community. Or as St Francis of Assisi says, ‘to preach the Gospel at all time, but only if necessary use words’. It was about embodying the Good News through their actions.
As I listened to the stories I drifted for a while and began to image Blackwood and Hawthorndene having such stories to tell. Stories where parents, teachers and principals speak with utter amazement about these people from the church who have invested so much into transforming one life and not being able to put their finger on their motivation for it, but knowing that it must be good. And members of our church telling stories with tears in their eyes saying, ‘I had an amazing opportunity to be Jesus with skin on’.
Shalom
Mark
The idea of the 2 day training was to equip me with all the resources to train and equip mentors to participate with this ministry. The Kids Hope directors are excited that Blackwood Church of Christ will be the very first church in metropolitan Adelaide to run with the program and they are excited that we will be the example to others in SA about how a successful Kids Hope program is run. Furthermore, if our conversations go well with Hawthorndene Primary School, they will be the very first school and will be the example to all the other schools. What an awesome responsibility and privilege we have to impact the broader metro Adelaide area through such a simple ministry of compassion and love.
Through the stories I kept hearing over and over during this couple of days, I kept hearing the phrase, ‘We have an opportunity to be Jesus with skin on’. This phrase began to grow on me as I realized what it meant to the many schools around Australia to see Christians actually doing something practical to serve their community with no expectation of recognition or bum’s on seats in their churches. The stories kept flowing from story tellers with tears in their eyes as we heard about schools, families, children and yes even churches being transformed through the power of building effective and quality relationships of service. For the churches it was about embracing the opportunity to be Christ in the community. Or as St Francis of Assisi says, ‘to preach the Gospel at all time, but only if necessary use words’. It was about embodying the Good News through their actions.
As I listened to the stories I drifted for a while and began to image Blackwood and Hawthorndene having such stories to tell. Stories where parents, teachers and principals speak with utter amazement about these people from the church who have invested so much into transforming one life and not being able to put their finger on their motivation for it, but knowing that it must be good. And members of our church telling stories with tears in their eyes saying, ‘I had an amazing opportunity to be Jesus with skin on’.
Shalom
Mark
Unexpected Transformation
At the last UNOH Surrender conference, Ash Barker said this; “In many ways Urban Neighbours Of Hope was not an idea, it was a place to be in solidarity with those who are poor and to be converted by them so that the Good News of the Gospel can truly come.” Ash’s words have resonated with quite strongly as it is quite counter cultural to or more well known practices of mission where those who are sent with the ‘Good News about Jesus’ are the ones who do the transforming. What Ash is suggesting resonates more strongly with my own experience of cross cultural exposure where I have profoundly encountered the presence of Christ in the other.
I wonder what our expectations are with our approach to mission. Is mission still a term we associate with the few Christians who are sent to far away lands to convert the ‘heathens’? Do we expect that our church will have a profound impact on our local community through the mission of the church? Who do we expect to be transformed and how? In fact I believe it is the call on every Christ follower to be engaged in the mission of Christ and I would suspect that all who do so will never be the same. I believe that when we engage in that which is so much bigger than ourselves , we too are converted by the experience.
Mal White from Kids Hope Aus, was here in Adelaide for a couple of days. Part of his reason for being here was to inspire those of us who are considering being involved with the mentoring program with our local Primary School. On Wednesday night he shared an amazing story with us of how a church was transformed by a school and a community. Yes that’s right…an unexpected transformation happened. In fact it wasn’t even the church that initiated the missional encounter, it was a school from the ‘wrong side of town’.
The church (which hadn’t changed its ways in around 150 years) couldn’t say no to an opportunity to be involved in Kids Hope with their local school. About 6 months into the mentoring program the church was encouraged by Kids Hope organizers to hold a ‘Kids Hope family fun night’ for all the kids and parents. The leadership decided to go with a safer option of inviting kids to Sunday school. Much to their surprise the kids came and the church found that their traditional Sunday school structure didn’t cut it so they had to experiment with alternative methods of conducting their children’s ministry. Another problem developed from there, the parents of the kids started hanging around. The church didn’t expect that more adults might join their small community. To cut a long story short, this church soon found that they were radically transformed by this encounter with their community. All of the old ways of doing things went out the window and they became the church the Holy Spirit had called them to be.
It’s amazing what can happen when a church relinquishes their control of the outcomes of the Spirit. It is not us that does the transforming but the Holy Spirit and we must expect that we are the ones who are transformed by Christ in the other as much as anyone. As Ash would say, when we are converted by them, the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus can truly come.
Shalom
Mark
I wonder what our expectations are with our approach to mission. Is mission still a term we associate with the few Christians who are sent to far away lands to convert the ‘heathens’? Do we expect that our church will have a profound impact on our local community through the mission of the church? Who do we expect to be transformed and how? In fact I believe it is the call on every Christ follower to be engaged in the mission of Christ and I would suspect that all who do so will never be the same. I believe that when we engage in that which is so much bigger than ourselves , we too are converted by the experience.
Mal White from Kids Hope Aus, was here in Adelaide for a couple of days. Part of his reason for being here was to inspire those of us who are considering being involved with the mentoring program with our local Primary School. On Wednesday night he shared an amazing story with us of how a church was transformed by a school and a community. Yes that’s right…an unexpected transformation happened. In fact it wasn’t even the church that initiated the missional encounter, it was a school from the ‘wrong side of town’.
The church (which hadn’t changed its ways in around 150 years) couldn’t say no to an opportunity to be involved in Kids Hope with their local school. About 6 months into the mentoring program the church was encouraged by Kids Hope organizers to hold a ‘Kids Hope family fun night’ for all the kids and parents. The leadership decided to go with a safer option of inviting kids to Sunday school. Much to their surprise the kids came and the church found that their traditional Sunday school structure didn’t cut it so they had to experiment with alternative methods of conducting their children’s ministry. Another problem developed from there, the parents of the kids started hanging around. The church didn’t expect that more adults might join their small community. To cut a long story short, this church soon found that they were radically transformed by this encounter with their community. All of the old ways of doing things went out the window and they became the church the Holy Spirit had called them to be.
It’s amazing what can happen when a church relinquishes their control of the outcomes of the Spirit. It is not us that does the transforming but the Holy Spirit and we must expect that we are the ones who are transformed by Christ in the other as much as anyone. As Ash would say, when we are converted by them, the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus can truly come.
Shalom
Mark
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
What is yet to come
I pondered on a passage of scripture today from John 16 where Jesus is having a conversation with his disciples of what is yet to come. My mind is captured by two things that Jesus is recorded to have said; first of all that there is so much more to talk about and discover together, ‘more than they can bear for the moment’; secondly the Holy Spirit will settle in among them to be an advocating voice and presence on behalf of God and will tell them of ‘what is yet to come’.
I find this to be an exciting, empowering and affirming concept. It also helps alleviate the anxiety of someone like me who may have vision of unwarranted optimism and worried about what to do with it. So the comfort I draw from Jesus’ conversation with his disciples is that we will not be given anymore than we can handle and the Spirit will be with us.
However my mind runs wild with ‘what is yet to come’. Will we be open to the possibilities of what is yet to come through the body of the gathered community of Christ? Or will we dismiss dreams and visions of future possibilities either out of fear of the unknown or fear of leaving the familiar behind? Do we believe the Holy Spirit is among us advocating on behalf of God through our thoughts and imagination? Do we believe that God still expects to see amazing things unfold through the imagination and hearts of the people of God?
Last week I began to release a vision I have for the Blackwood Church of Christ. For the days to follow there was a stirring of imagination and dreaming being fed back to me from various members of our church. The vision continues to grow because I believe we are giving permission for the Spirit to show us what is yet to come. I continue to look forward to the conversations we are yet to have and I encourage you to share not only with me but with others in our church so that we may build on what the Spirit of God is stirring among us and expect that the best of God’s work with and through this church is yet to come.
Shalom
Mark
I find this to be an exciting, empowering and affirming concept. It also helps alleviate the anxiety of someone like me who may have vision of unwarranted optimism and worried about what to do with it. So the comfort I draw from Jesus’ conversation with his disciples is that we will not be given anymore than we can handle and the Spirit will be with us.
However my mind runs wild with ‘what is yet to come’. Will we be open to the possibilities of what is yet to come through the body of the gathered community of Christ? Or will we dismiss dreams and visions of future possibilities either out of fear of the unknown or fear of leaving the familiar behind? Do we believe the Holy Spirit is among us advocating on behalf of God through our thoughts and imagination? Do we believe that God still expects to see amazing things unfold through the imagination and hearts of the people of God?
Last week I began to release a vision I have for the Blackwood Church of Christ. For the days to follow there was a stirring of imagination and dreaming being fed back to me from various members of our church. The vision continues to grow because I believe we are giving permission for the Spirit to show us what is yet to come. I continue to look forward to the conversations we are yet to have and I encourage you to share not only with me but with others in our church so that we may build on what the Spirit of God is stirring among us and expect that the best of God’s work with and through this church is yet to come.
Shalom
Mark
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Learning to surf
I’m back! What an adventure it has been 3 weeks in the USA. I had experienced some amazing things and have plenty of stories to tell. This particular reflection however is from the end of my trip. On my way back from the USA I stopped in at Hawaii for a couple of days to fulfill a life long dream of surfing in Hawaii.
It was the off season for surfing so the waves all over were small to flat. My usual board of choice is a bodyboard but due to the small surf conditions I decided to hire an 11 foot longboard at Waikiki and go for a little stand up surfing. You need to understand that for a bodyboarder to revert to a surfboard requires a huge amount of humility.
So here I was sitting on a board that was not necessarily my wave surfing tool of choice, in unfamiliar territory, in a strange country with locals and tourist alike who were strangers to me. My usual experience of surfing is that it is a loners sport, you battle for every wave and once you claim it there’s no sharing it, and whatever you do don’t make a fool of yourself, you’re out there to impress. So the first wave I get, I stand up and find there are a dozen others sharing the wave with me, then what do I do, I get the wobbles and fall off, oh great, just made a fool of myself. Much to my surprise no-one seemed to care or really notice, in fact the atmosphere out there was friendly, encouraging and had a real community feel about it. My next wave I rode a long way with 2 locals on boards either side of me encouraging me to ‘walk the plank’ and ‘hang 10’. In this strange and foreign zone I encountered an atmosphere of encouragement and friendly community, not an ounce of possessiveness or ridicule.
We still have so much to learn from Polynesian cultures and the like, from their expression of hospitality to the way they embrace the stranger. If only our ancestors of the Christian faith could have appreciated such approaches to mission.
Often when it comes to the missional expression of the church, we prefer to encounter the world out there on our own terms, imposing our own culture and using the methods we are comfortable with. I wonder how much more receptive to the Gospel message people may be if we were more willing to become learners rather than experts, if we were prepared to be fools for God, prepared to be taken by the hand by a ‘local’ of which ever context we find ourselves in, learn new methods and use new tools.
An encounter with my new Hawaiian surfer buddies certainly impacted my outlook on mission and what it means to embrace the stranger. May we be willing to be learners.
Shalom
Mark
It was the off season for surfing so the waves all over were small to flat. My usual board of choice is a bodyboard but due to the small surf conditions I decided to hire an 11 foot longboard at Waikiki and go for a little stand up surfing. You need to understand that for a bodyboarder to revert to a surfboard requires a huge amount of humility.
So here I was sitting on a board that was not necessarily my wave surfing tool of choice, in unfamiliar territory, in a strange country with locals and tourist alike who were strangers to me. My usual experience of surfing is that it is a loners sport, you battle for every wave and once you claim it there’s no sharing it, and whatever you do don’t make a fool of yourself, you’re out there to impress. So the first wave I get, I stand up and find there are a dozen others sharing the wave with me, then what do I do, I get the wobbles and fall off, oh great, just made a fool of myself. Much to my surprise no-one seemed to care or really notice, in fact the atmosphere out there was friendly, encouraging and had a real community feel about it. My next wave I rode a long way with 2 locals on boards either side of me encouraging me to ‘walk the plank’ and ‘hang 10’. In this strange and foreign zone I encountered an atmosphere of encouragement and friendly community, not an ounce of possessiveness or ridicule.
We still have so much to learn from Polynesian cultures and the like, from their expression of hospitality to the way they embrace the stranger. If only our ancestors of the Christian faith could have appreciated such approaches to mission.
Often when it comes to the missional expression of the church, we prefer to encounter the world out there on our own terms, imposing our own culture and using the methods we are comfortable with. I wonder how much more receptive to the Gospel message people may be if we were more willing to become learners rather than experts, if we were prepared to be fools for God, prepared to be taken by the hand by a ‘local’ of which ever context we find ourselves in, learn new methods and use new tools.
An encounter with my new Hawaiian surfer buddies certainly impacted my outlook on mission and what it means to embrace the stranger. May we be willing to be learners.
Shalom
Mark
Thursday, May 17, 2007
My last 10 days in the USA
Well, here I am in Sydney airport, scabbing some free internet from the Qantas Club hotspot. Sorry i haven't posted much while I was abroad. This was partly due to a very busy schedule but if it wasn't for that it was the dodgy wireless internet connections always dropping out, but hey, what can you expect for free? However, while I was online I got addicted to my myspace, it's like a whole new world opened up for me and I was like a little kid with a new toy so check it out if you get a chance www.myspace.com/markriessen
What an amazing time I had in the USA, 20 days all up. shortly after my last post we ended our official leadership tour and i went my own way for another week in the USA. I had an absolutely amazing experience the night we parted but I'll save that story for a seperate post when i have more time and my laptop battery isn't nearly flat.
I stayed a night in LA then headed up to Seattle for 3 days to catch up with friends. I met with an old friend from Camp Counsellors USA (haven't seen him in 11 years). Then I stayed with some old friends I journeyed through my final year of college with. I was so appreciative of the hospitality from Doug and Kathy Dornhecker and am forever grateful. I was able to be there for some significant moments in their life. One church they took me to was an 'open and affirming' church. In other words, the majority of the congregation were made up of those who 'don't fit', gay & lesbian couples and singles, homeless, mentally ill. I was speaking there that day, I found it to be the most welcoming and embracing church I came across in USA.
For my last couple of days I fulfilled a life long dream and went to Hawaii. I stayed on the main island of Oahu in the Waikiki resport area. I hire a big mal both days and went surfing at Waikiki. On one day I hired a car and drove to the north shore where I saw Wiamea Bay, dabbled my feet in the water at Pipline and went body surfing at Sunset. I couldn't believe how flat the surf was here, but then again I was warned it was the off season.
What an amazing 3 week adventure. I have so much more to blog particularly from my learnings as a result of leadership 21. However I must leave it there or I'll miss my plane. Stay tuned, I will reflect some more. Pictures will be on myspace (yeah sorry Chris I love it)
Shalom
Mark
What an amazing time I had in the USA, 20 days all up. shortly after my last post we ended our official leadership tour and i went my own way for another week in the USA. I had an absolutely amazing experience the night we parted but I'll save that story for a seperate post when i have more time and my laptop battery isn't nearly flat.
I stayed a night in LA then headed up to Seattle for 3 days to catch up with friends. I met with an old friend from Camp Counsellors USA (haven't seen him in 11 years). Then I stayed with some old friends I journeyed through my final year of college with. I was so appreciative of the hospitality from Doug and Kathy Dornhecker and am forever grateful. I was able to be there for some significant moments in their life. One church they took me to was an 'open and affirming' church. In other words, the majority of the congregation were made up of those who 'don't fit', gay & lesbian couples and singles, homeless, mentally ill. I was speaking there that day, I found it to be the most welcoming and embracing church I came across in USA.
For my last couple of days I fulfilled a life long dream and went to Hawaii. I stayed on the main island of Oahu in the Waikiki resport area. I hire a big mal both days and went surfing at Waikiki. On one day I hired a car and drove to the north shore where I saw Wiamea Bay, dabbled my feet in the water at Pipline and went body surfing at Sunset. I couldn't believe how flat the surf was here, but then again I was warned it was the off season.
What an amazing 3 week adventure. I have so much more to blog particularly from my learnings as a result of leadership 21. However I must leave it there or I'll miss my plane. Stay tuned, I will reflect some more. Pictures will be on myspace (yeah sorry Chris I love it)
Shalom
Mark
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
USA update
Hi everyone,
Just so you know I've been playing around with Myspace. i have a site but it's pretty basic at the moment. What you can find on my space however is pics from my experiences of LA and Las Vegas. Arizona pics are coming.
Go to www.myspace.com/markriessen I'll still be blogging here but am playing with the myspace thong for pics, youtube and music. My myspace blog will be the same as this one.
If there's anyone out there who can give me myspace tips I would really appreciate it. Please post your helps and ideas in the comments.
Cheers
Mark
Just so you know I've been playing around with Myspace. i have a site but it's pretty basic at the moment. What you can find on my space however is pics from my experiences of LA and Las Vegas. Arizona pics are coming.
Go to www.myspace.com/markriessen I'll still be blogging here but am playing with the myspace thong for pics, youtube and music. My myspace blog will be the same as this one.
If there's anyone out there who can give me myspace tips I would really appreciate it. Please post your helps and ideas in the comments.
Cheers
Mark
Sunday, May 06, 2007
10 days in the USA
Well for those who are interested, I'm finally finding time to update the blog. I don't have long so I'll give a brief update of where I've been and where I'm going. Really keen to post some reflections however on the leadership, ministry and ecclesiological models I've been exposed to and reflected upon. The real challenge will be the processing and contextualizing, then composing the imagination that continues to develop as I consider vision and direction in my context of ministry back home.
I've been in the USA for the last 10 days with 17 other ministers from Churches of Christ in Australia. Many may ask 'why USA?' which I admit has also been my question. Why on earth would ministers from from Australia want to travel to the other side of the globe to be inspired by churches and ministries in a completely different culture and context. Now on day 10 of the trip my reflection is, 'is has been worth travelling to the other side of the world for the experience and the conversations.
Anyway, more on that later, here's a basic run down of where I've been and where I'm going from here before heading back home.
We arrived in LA Thursday week ago. We spent 5 days there checking out churches and talking with the pastors. Some of the facilities and conversations were mind boggling. Of course we couldn't visit LA and stay right next to Disneyland and not take a look, so we squeezed that in. Then we drove to Las Vegas for 2 days and checked out 2 amazing ministries. While in Las Vegas we 'walked the strip'. What an experience that was, those casinos are monstrosities. It was so hot in Las Vegas, even at night. Then we moved onto Flagstaff, Arizona for 2 days, checked out another church. Went to the Grand canyon for half a day, hard to really explain a site like that. This morning we woke up to a blanket of snow over everything. What a contract to Las Vegas, and it's not even that far away. We wound our way through the mountains to check another church on our way to Phoenix. It snowed while we were standing in the church car park. I'm now in Phoenix and back into shorts and t-shirt. It's hot here. We're only a few hundred miles from Vegas and the fluctuations in weather have been amazing.
We'll be in Phoenix for 5 days checking out churches and more conversations before driving back to LA where the tour ends. On Friday I fly to Seattle to catch up with friends for the weekend. Touring a couple more ministries while there and speaking at a friends church. Sunday night following I fly back to LA then the next morning to Hawaii for some relax time. I'm hoping to fulfill a life long dream by standing on the beach of Pipeline. i don't care what the surf is like, I just want to go there. Then I'll look around for a wave I can handle and fulfill another dream to surf in Hawaii. I have 2 days there then i fly back home.
I look forward to seeing all back in Oz soon.
Shalom
Mark
I've been in the USA for the last 10 days with 17 other ministers from Churches of Christ in Australia. Many may ask 'why USA?' which I admit has also been my question. Why on earth would ministers from from Australia want to travel to the other side of the globe to be inspired by churches and ministries in a completely different culture and context. Now on day 10 of the trip my reflection is, 'is has been worth travelling to the other side of the world for the experience and the conversations.
Anyway, more on that later, here's a basic run down of where I've been and where I'm going from here before heading back home.
We arrived in LA Thursday week ago. We spent 5 days there checking out churches and talking with the pastors. Some of the facilities and conversations were mind boggling. Of course we couldn't visit LA and stay right next to Disneyland and not take a look, so we squeezed that in. Then we drove to Las Vegas for 2 days and checked out 2 amazing ministries. While in Las Vegas we 'walked the strip'. What an experience that was, those casinos are monstrosities. It was so hot in Las Vegas, even at night. Then we moved onto Flagstaff, Arizona for 2 days, checked out another church. Went to the Grand canyon for half a day, hard to really explain a site like that. This morning we woke up to a blanket of snow over everything. What a contract to Las Vegas, and it's not even that far away. We wound our way through the mountains to check another church on our way to Phoenix. It snowed while we were standing in the church car park. I'm now in Phoenix and back into shorts and t-shirt. It's hot here. We're only a few hundred miles from Vegas and the fluctuations in weather have been amazing.
We'll be in Phoenix for 5 days checking out churches and more conversations before driving back to LA where the tour ends. On Friday I fly to Seattle to catch up with friends for the weekend. Touring a couple more ministries while there and speaking at a friends church. Sunday night following I fly back to LA then the next morning to Hawaii for some relax time. I'm hoping to fulfill a life long dream by standing on the beach of Pipeline. i don't care what the surf is like, I just want to go there. Then I'll look around for a wave I can handle and fulfill another dream to surf in Hawaii. I have 2 days there then i fly back home.
I look forward to seeing all back in Oz soon.
Shalom
Mark
Sunday, April 29, 2007
3 weeks in USA
Hi everyone,
Sorry I've been absent from my blog lately, I'm on a leadership/ministry conference in USA for 3 weeks, and I'm 3 days in. I may post the odd reflection from time to time depending on where I hit a wireless connection or internet cafe.
I'm in LA at the moment. The locations on the leadership tour are Las Vegas, Flaggstaff, Phoenix in the next 10 days then I'm out on my own for a week visiting Seattle and Hawaii before heading home.
As I I'll try and keep in touch. Please post your comments while I'm away, I'm less homesick that way. I have many reflections stirring from my experiences of churches over here, and leadership styles and challenges. Hopefully I'll spit some out on the blog soon.
Stay tuned
Shalom
Mark
Sorry I've been absent from my blog lately, I'm on a leadership/ministry conference in USA for 3 weeks, and I'm 3 days in. I may post the odd reflection from time to time depending on where I hit a wireless connection or internet cafe.
I'm in LA at the moment. The locations on the leadership tour are Las Vegas, Flaggstaff, Phoenix in the next 10 days then I'm out on my own for a week visiting Seattle and Hawaii before heading home.
As I I'll try and keep in touch. Please post your comments while I'm away, I'm less homesick that way. I have many reflections stirring from my experiences of churches over here, and leadership styles and challenges. Hopefully I'll spit some out on the blog soon.
Stay tuned
Shalom
Mark
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Radical Christians, radical churches
The word radical makes many Christians I know very nervous. What is it about being radical that people get nervous about? Is it that radicalism requires action outside of the conservative mold of polite confirmative expectation? Now that’s got to make people uncomfortable. Yet from the stories I continue to read and re-read, that’s the kind of Jesus I encounter. For 2000 years it seems many who proclaim the name of Jesus are trying to pacify him and mold him into an image we’re comfortable with, a nice predictable ‘tuck Jesus in my pocket and take him out when I need him’ Jesus – a Jesus who suits our personal needs.
Tony Campolo writes a compelling foreword in the latest release of Mick Duncan’s ‘Costly Mission – following Jesus into neighbourhoods facing poverty’. While I haven’t read the book yet the foreword at least has grabbed my attention. Here’s a snippet;
“Sadly, Evangelicalism, instead of being defined by those outside the church as a compassionate movement, committed to living out love on a personal level and justice on the social level, has earned the reputation of being anti-gay; anti-environmentalism; anti-women; pro-war; and power hungry triumphalism. Most people in society have a great respect for Jesus, but see little similarity between what he was and taught and what is expressed in contemporary Evangelical Christendom.”
Will we really follow Jesus into places he would go? It’s certainly safer to pacify Jesus then take him with us for our own triumphal, colonialist agendas. Christendom has controlled the Christian tradition for hundreds of years. I have encountered many conversations, authors and speakers who are predicting the end of Christendom is upon us and the Jesus movement is being re-birthed in many diverse and creative ways all of which are attempting to re-engage Christian discipleship through the radical lenses of the Jesus of the Gospels.
Where does a new movement of radical Jesus followers express themselves? Some who are on the edges of the emerging church movement tend to reject the established ‘traditional’ church as the place of such rebirth and belonging. I suggest there need be no other place for it. The way forward for the established church is not to survive but to thrive by embracing this resurrection. We do this not by trying to be relevant but by being the people Jesus calls us to be – radical expressions of a God who wants to pour his heart out for a hurting world.
I can’t wait to see this scattering of a few radicals become a host of radical churches doing everything in their power to be a ‘compassionate movement, living out love on a personal level and justice on a social level’. Just imagine what the church of Christ can look like if we were to embrace the radical seriously.
Shalom
Mark
Tony Campolo writes a compelling foreword in the latest release of Mick Duncan’s ‘Costly Mission – following Jesus into neighbourhoods facing poverty’. While I haven’t read the book yet the foreword at least has grabbed my attention. Here’s a snippet;
“Sadly, Evangelicalism, instead of being defined by those outside the church as a compassionate movement, committed to living out love on a personal level and justice on the social level, has earned the reputation of being anti-gay; anti-environmentalism; anti-women; pro-war; and power hungry triumphalism. Most people in society have a great respect for Jesus, but see little similarity between what he was and taught and what is expressed in contemporary Evangelical Christendom.”
Will we really follow Jesus into places he would go? It’s certainly safer to pacify Jesus then take him with us for our own triumphal, colonialist agendas. Christendom has controlled the Christian tradition for hundreds of years. I have encountered many conversations, authors and speakers who are predicting the end of Christendom is upon us and the Jesus movement is being re-birthed in many diverse and creative ways all of which are attempting to re-engage Christian discipleship through the radical lenses of the Jesus of the Gospels.
Where does a new movement of radical Jesus followers express themselves? Some who are on the edges of the emerging church movement tend to reject the established ‘traditional’ church as the place of such rebirth and belonging. I suggest there need be no other place for it. The way forward for the established church is not to survive but to thrive by embracing this resurrection. We do this not by trying to be relevant but by being the people Jesus calls us to be – radical expressions of a God who wants to pour his heart out for a hurting world.
I can’t wait to see this scattering of a few radicals become a host of radical churches doing everything in their power to be a ‘compassionate movement, living out love on a personal level and justice on a social level’. Just imagine what the church of Christ can look like if we were to embrace the radical seriously.
Shalom
Mark
Thursday, April 19, 2007
How's your reflection?
Lent is over, Holy week has past, and the Easter event lingers on in our memories and our experience for another year. So what did it all mean for you this time around? Have you been inspired or touch by the Easter event in a new kind of way?
Our Good Friday service is still etched in my memory. I actually appreciated not taking part in the service for the first time in years and I was able to be, and ponder the message that Jonathan Moore gave. Having said that I now pause in my day to ask myself, ‘how’s your reflection?’
Jonathan spoke on the text from John 19:1-16 and his message was inspired by an article written by Barbra Brown Taylor titled ‘The Perfect Mirror’. I would like now to reflect once again upon an extract from Jonathan’s sermon:
“According to John, Jesus died because he told the truth about everyone he met. He was the truth, a perfect mirror in which people saw themselves in God’s light, for who they truly were.
What happened then goes on happening now; in the presence of his integrity our presence is exposed, in the presence of his courage and consistency our cowardice is brought to light, in the presence of his fierce love for us our hardness of heart is revealed. Take him out of the room and all of those things become relative.
In his presence people either gather around to worship him or do everything they can to shatter him.”
As part of the service on Friday we were all given a shiny, reflective piece of card that resembled a piece of smashed mirror. I look at mine everyday and wonder if I live my life with truth, integrity and honesty as Jesus did? If not, why not? What do we fear in seeking to live the way Jesus lived? When I look at my reflection in the mirror am I happy with what I see?
Now that the discipline of Lent has past, what does my reflection in Christ continue to reveal to me?
How’s your reflection?
Our Good Friday service is still etched in my memory. I actually appreciated not taking part in the service for the first time in years and I was able to be, and ponder the message that Jonathan Moore gave. Having said that I now pause in my day to ask myself, ‘how’s your reflection?’
Jonathan spoke on the text from John 19:1-16 and his message was inspired by an article written by Barbra Brown Taylor titled ‘The Perfect Mirror’. I would like now to reflect once again upon an extract from Jonathan’s sermon:
“According to John, Jesus died because he told the truth about everyone he met. He was the truth, a perfect mirror in which people saw themselves in God’s light, for who they truly were.
What happened then goes on happening now; in the presence of his integrity our presence is exposed, in the presence of his courage and consistency our cowardice is brought to light, in the presence of his fierce love for us our hardness of heart is revealed. Take him out of the room and all of those things become relative.
In his presence people either gather around to worship him or do everything they can to shatter him.”
As part of the service on Friday we were all given a shiny, reflective piece of card that resembled a piece of smashed mirror. I look at mine everyday and wonder if I live my life with truth, integrity and honesty as Jesus did? If not, why not? What do we fear in seeking to live the way Jesus lived? When I look at my reflection in the mirror am I happy with what I see?
Now that the discipline of Lent has past, what does my reflection in Christ continue to reveal to me?
How’s your reflection?
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
"Meek and mild teacher or mysterious rebel with a cause?"
Thanks for the blog link Jeff I checked it out and followed a link to find this article that Cheryl Lawrie had written for The Age which was published on Easter Sunday.
If anyone is interested check out the blog here and the article here. I find it helpful and complimentary to my ongoing conversation about who Jesus was, what he lived and died for, and what is really important for followers of the Risen Christ to be concerned about today.
Here's a quote from the article "Meek and mild teacher or mysterious rebel with a cause?" I prefer the latter personally, that's the Jesus I follow:
"As the stories of Jesus show us, it's rarely those in positions of power and influence who understand who God is. They have too much to lose. Instead, look for what the poor, the prisoner, the women, the children would tell us of who God is, because Jesus says it's with them that God is to be found. And trust it most if they speak of love."
Cheryl Lawrie works with an alternative worship project for the Uniting Church.
Shalom
Mark
If anyone is interested check out the blog here and the article here. I find it helpful and complimentary to my ongoing conversation about who Jesus was, what he lived and died for, and what is really important for followers of the Risen Christ to be concerned about today.
Here's a quote from the article "Meek and mild teacher or mysterious rebel with a cause?" I prefer the latter personally, that's the Jesus I follow:
"As the stories of Jesus show us, it's rarely those in positions of power and influence who understand who God is. They have too much to lose. Instead, look for what the poor, the prisoner, the women, the children would tell us of who God is, because Jesus says it's with them that God is to be found. And trust it most if they speak of love."
Cheryl Lawrie works with an alternative worship project for the Uniting Church.
Shalom
Mark
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Christ is Risen – He is Risen indeed!
Fact or fiction – proof or faith?
Was Jesus really risen from the dead?
The Christian confession in the resurrection of Jesus has been at the core of the Christian faith for nearly 2000 years. Although it is the confession of most who profess a faith in Christ, what are the thoughts and questions going on behind the scenes that lead people to such a conclusion?
I have encountered many Christians during this past 38 days of lent who wrestle with or accept the confession of the resurrection of Jesus in different ways. Was it really a bodily resurrection? What really happened to Jesus body afterwards if that is the case? Did Jesus really rise from death? These are legitimate, yet for some disturbing questions, that Christians of today are wrestling with in order to try and understand a tradition, a creedal statement, a confession that has been around for so long.
I think it is healthy for Christians today to be in dialogue with one another on such a topic and be allowed to sit with the questions for a while. Why is it so important for us to believe in such things? Can we actually sit with one another with different views on this and still respect one another and get along?
The authors of each Gospel (the four we have in our bibles anyway) pay particular attention to the final week of Jesus life, including death and resurrection. Only three of the original Gospel accounts have extensive resurrection stories. It certainly becomes apparent in these accounts that the authors go to great lengths to share eye witness accounts as proof of the resurrection. Skeptics would say that this is just the way the author tweaks the story to get the reader to believe. However even the resurrected Jesus in the stories say, ‘how happy are those who believe yet have not seen’.
I particularly like the original ending of Mark’s Gospel which has no such appearances of a resurrected Jesus at all. In fact, Mark leaves the reader with an empty tomb and the women who found it fleeing from the scene trembling and bewildered and not telling anyone about it because they were afraid (Mark 16:1-8). What I love about Mark’s Gospel is that he leaves us, the reader, to make up our own mind.
Our lectionary focused it's attention of the Gospel of John...again (surprise, surprise) this Easter Sunday. I am always captivated by the characters John chooses to focus on in the story. In fact for John the resurrection is a personal event for each of the characters - Mary Magdalene, Thomas, Peter and 'the other disciple' (the one whom Jesus loved, or the one who loved Jesus, depending on how you read your Greek). Each of them experienced the resurrected Jesus differently. I am particularly interested in Mary's experience - she didn't even recognize Jesus. This is not unlike the story told by Luke when Jesus walked to Emmaus with 2 disciples and 'they didn't recognize him'. So I go, 'what's all that about?' when those who were closest to him in life and ministry either don't believe Jesus was raised from death (Thomas and Peter) or don't recognise the resurrected Christ. No wonder it's a hard story for people to swallow 2000 years later.
I suspect they may be looking for the Jesus of their own construction. It's not unlike what we do to Jesus today, we construct an image of Jesus that suits us, an image that may be an untruth, a Jesus that we are comfortable with. Regardless of facts, or historical/eye witness 'proof' the Jesus we often meet is Jesus on our terms. So what happens then when we are confronted by the resurrected Christ, the Jesus not our our own construction but of God? What happens when we encounter that which cannot be proven or explained? Sure we can be left bewildered, confused and afraid failing to recognise - after all, that's exactly what the Gospels tells us of the experiences of those who actually experienced the risen Christ 2000 years ago.
Another thing I find fascinating in the accounts the resurrected Christ has with certain characters is this, even when they don't recognise him him recognizes them. He calls Mary by name, that is the point of her revelation. The hope Christians have is not based in evidence, nor does it need to be. The hope on this day of resurrection is that Jesus recognizes us even when we don’t recognize him.
Proof is not needed at all in order to testify to the resurrection. While I think it is healthy for us to debate such a topic there is no need for us to oppress one another with 'proof text's' or forcefully twist anothers arm to think the same way. In fact we may even learn something about resurrection of Jesus from another persons experience that can teach us something more of the nature of God and the hope we share.
Confession in the resurrection of Jesus has always been a matter of faith. Those who have faith in such an event proclaim it is God’s divine ‘YES’ to the faithful life Jesus lived. God raised Jesus in an action that defied death, so those who believe could have hope in a God who can create something new out of a devastating event. This would lead us to understand why every Easter Sunday, Christians proclaim that Jesus is alive which is why we have hope and life in Christ today.
Shalom Mark
Was Jesus really risen from the dead?
The Christian confession in the resurrection of Jesus has been at the core of the Christian faith for nearly 2000 years. Although it is the confession of most who profess a faith in Christ, what are the thoughts and questions going on behind the scenes that lead people to such a conclusion?
I have encountered many Christians during this past 38 days of lent who wrestle with or accept the confession of the resurrection of Jesus in different ways. Was it really a bodily resurrection? What really happened to Jesus body afterwards if that is the case? Did Jesus really rise from death? These are legitimate, yet for some disturbing questions, that Christians of today are wrestling with in order to try and understand a tradition, a creedal statement, a confession that has been around for so long.
I think it is healthy for Christians today to be in dialogue with one another on such a topic and be allowed to sit with the questions for a while. Why is it so important for us to believe in such things? Can we actually sit with one another with different views on this and still respect one another and get along?
The authors of each Gospel (the four we have in our bibles anyway) pay particular attention to the final week of Jesus life, including death and resurrection. Only three of the original Gospel accounts have extensive resurrection stories. It certainly becomes apparent in these accounts that the authors go to great lengths to share eye witness accounts as proof of the resurrection. Skeptics would say that this is just the way the author tweaks the story to get the reader to believe. However even the resurrected Jesus in the stories say, ‘how happy are those who believe yet have not seen’.
I particularly like the original ending of Mark’s Gospel which has no such appearances of a resurrected Jesus at all. In fact, Mark leaves the reader with an empty tomb and the women who found it fleeing from the scene trembling and bewildered and not telling anyone about it because they were afraid (Mark 16:1-8). What I love about Mark’s Gospel is that he leaves us, the reader, to make up our own mind.
Our lectionary focused it's attention of the Gospel of John...again (surprise, surprise) this Easter Sunday. I am always captivated by the characters John chooses to focus on in the story. In fact for John the resurrection is a personal event for each of the characters - Mary Magdalene, Thomas, Peter and 'the other disciple' (the one whom Jesus loved, or the one who loved Jesus, depending on how you read your Greek). Each of them experienced the resurrected Jesus differently. I am particularly interested in Mary's experience - she didn't even recognize Jesus. This is not unlike the story told by Luke when Jesus walked to Emmaus with 2 disciples and 'they didn't recognize him'. So I go, 'what's all that about?' when those who were closest to him in life and ministry either don't believe Jesus was raised from death (Thomas and Peter) or don't recognise the resurrected Christ. No wonder it's a hard story for people to swallow 2000 years later.
I suspect they may be looking for the Jesus of their own construction. It's not unlike what we do to Jesus today, we construct an image of Jesus that suits us, an image that may be an untruth, a Jesus that we are comfortable with. Regardless of facts, or historical/eye witness 'proof' the Jesus we often meet is Jesus on our terms. So what happens then when we are confronted by the resurrected Christ, the Jesus not our our own construction but of God? What happens when we encounter that which cannot be proven or explained? Sure we can be left bewildered, confused and afraid failing to recognise - after all, that's exactly what the Gospels tells us of the experiences of those who actually experienced the risen Christ 2000 years ago.
Another thing I find fascinating in the accounts the resurrected Christ has with certain characters is this, even when they don't recognise him him recognizes them. He calls Mary by name, that is the point of her revelation. The hope Christians have is not based in evidence, nor does it need to be. The hope on this day of resurrection is that Jesus recognizes us even when we don’t recognize him.
Proof is not needed at all in order to testify to the resurrection. While I think it is healthy for us to debate such a topic there is no need for us to oppress one another with 'proof text's' or forcefully twist anothers arm to think the same way. In fact we may even learn something about resurrection of Jesus from another persons experience that can teach us something more of the nature of God and the hope we share.
Confession in the resurrection of Jesus has always been a matter of faith. Those who have faith in such an event proclaim it is God’s divine ‘YES’ to the faithful life Jesus lived. God raised Jesus in an action that defied death, so those who believe could have hope in a God who can create something new out of a devastating event. This would lead us to understand why every Easter Sunday, Christians proclaim that Jesus is alive which is why we have hope and life in Christ today.
Shalom Mark
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
On the edge
It was day 28 of lent and instead of going for my usual bike ride to find space to reflect, I headed down the coast with my board for a surf.
It was a reasonably large swell for Southport which meant the breaks were packed with surfers. I sat on the beach and pondered for a while what kind of approach I would take to getting past what looked like a terrifying shore break. I eventually got out there. Paddling out for me is not without a healthy sense of fear particularly in big and rough waves. It’s always comforting once you get to the group of other surfers and you can sit there on your board bobbing up and down knowing you’re reasonably safe beyond the break zone.
Surfers, ‘real surfers’ are usually adventurous types and will try anything at least once. It usually involves doing something daring. As we were waiting for a set of waves to come through I noticed two surfers paddling a little further out. They were heading for the Port Norlunga reef which was becoming more and more exposed with the outgoing tide. Large waves were crashing up against the reef making for spectacular viewing. These two surfers climbed up on the reef for a closer look, not because they were dared to, and not to gain respect, but purely because they could and because surfers love to live on the edge.
A big set came through and we all scrambled for positions. It’s always interesting to see which way people scramble. While some line themselves up to catch the wave, others paddle as fast as they can further out to sea to avoid the wave. This is what makes or breaks a ‘real surfer’. The waves that day were really sucking up and when you look down from the top it’s a long way to drop. All kinds of questions conger up in your mind as you discern whether you could make it or not.
In surfing circles there are playful ways of giving your mates a hard time if they continually dodge the wave. They are given name labels like grommet, scrubber, poser or try-hard. They wear these labels until that day they can paddle to the edge of that wave and take the plunge and not just a little one either, there has to be no hesitation and no fear shown when dropping into even the big monster waves. That day is called graduation day when they can call themselves surfers with integrity and not just pose as one.
Similarly, Jesus calls his disciples to pretty radical decisions daily. Jesus borders on the edge of acceptance never thinking twice about taking the daring plunge to stand with those who are marginalized or oppressed. It didn’t matter what people thought of him, what mattered was that these people had a chance to be liberated from their condition.
There are those who like to wear the label of being followers of Jesus, or in today’s terms ‘Christian’. From the time many followed Jesus on that final journey into Jerusalem, how many were really able to follow through with integrity?
To earn your right to be a Christian of integrity, is to be prepared to make radical decisions to follow Jesus daily.
Shalom Mark
It was a reasonably large swell for Southport which meant the breaks were packed with surfers. I sat on the beach and pondered for a while what kind of approach I would take to getting past what looked like a terrifying shore break. I eventually got out there. Paddling out for me is not without a healthy sense of fear particularly in big and rough waves. It’s always comforting once you get to the group of other surfers and you can sit there on your board bobbing up and down knowing you’re reasonably safe beyond the break zone.
Surfers, ‘real surfers’ are usually adventurous types and will try anything at least once. It usually involves doing something daring. As we were waiting for a set of waves to come through I noticed two surfers paddling a little further out. They were heading for the Port Norlunga reef which was becoming more and more exposed with the outgoing tide. Large waves were crashing up against the reef making for spectacular viewing. These two surfers climbed up on the reef for a closer look, not because they were dared to, and not to gain respect, but purely because they could and because surfers love to live on the edge.
A big set came through and we all scrambled for positions. It’s always interesting to see which way people scramble. While some line themselves up to catch the wave, others paddle as fast as they can further out to sea to avoid the wave. This is what makes or breaks a ‘real surfer’. The waves that day were really sucking up and when you look down from the top it’s a long way to drop. All kinds of questions conger up in your mind as you discern whether you could make it or not.
In surfing circles there are playful ways of giving your mates a hard time if they continually dodge the wave. They are given name labels like grommet, scrubber, poser or try-hard. They wear these labels until that day they can paddle to the edge of that wave and take the plunge and not just a little one either, there has to be no hesitation and no fear shown when dropping into even the big monster waves. That day is called graduation day when they can call themselves surfers with integrity and not just pose as one.
Similarly, Jesus calls his disciples to pretty radical decisions daily. Jesus borders on the edge of acceptance never thinking twice about taking the daring plunge to stand with those who are marginalized or oppressed. It didn’t matter what people thought of him, what mattered was that these people had a chance to be liberated from their condition.
There are those who like to wear the label of being followers of Jesus, or in today’s terms ‘Christian’. From the time many followed Jesus on that final journey into Jerusalem, how many were really able to follow through with integrity?
To earn your right to be a Christian of integrity, is to be prepared to make radical decisions to follow Jesus daily.
Shalom Mark
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
God takes us by surprise
When Ash Barker was here a couple of weeks ago, we had an amazing experience after visiting a church one Sunday night. Ash had an amazing encounter with a person he knew from 15 years ago. Out of this encounter sprung a conversation between Ash and I about the impact you often don’t realize you have in ministry because you often plant many sends, tend to them, and help them grow, but hardly ever see the fruits that result from your labor. Here Ash tells an amazing story of this encounter…
A few weeks ago I experienced an unexpected joy. It was my last night in Oz as I faced my fifty-first meeting, in my third city, in fourteen days. My tongue felt six inches thick, my throat was cracked red and my head was dizzy longing to hit the pillow on my sixth bed for the trip. This wouldn’t have been so bad, but a couple of hundred smart dressed 15 to 20 year olds started to arrive through the church doors ready to hear me speak. I was so spent that I wasn’t even sure I could put an intelligible sentence together never mind persuade any-body of God’s heart-beat for the poor.
That’s when it happened. A huge Islander walked across the room and shook me by the hand.
“Remember me?” My mind was tanked, but I did know this guy. His eyes smiled.
“Huh. Its me Anthony, well Anton now. I used to live with you fellas.”
My knees buckled, nearly toppling over as I realized who this was. This was not the fuming, angry, skinny fifteen year-old Anthony, I’d last seen fifteen years ago. Here was a weather beaten, but peaceful man, now known as Anton. He was the last person I’d expected to see at this church, not least because last time I’d heard he was doing a very long jail stretch.
Anton spoke fast, letting me know how he found Jesus in solitary confinement. He had remembered how I had bought him fishing rod for his birthday and how we caught plenty of fish that day of a hired boat. I’d said, “one day you’ll be a fisher of men.” Alone in jail Anton said to God, “If you get me out of this jail I will speak your truth for the rest of my days.” Anton did get out of jail, tried to find me and for the last four years as well as holding down a steady job he has been sharing Jesus with all who will listen in a kind of gutsy, street-level way. Anton saw this new life as a kind of fulfillment in those words I vaguely remember saying years ago.
A kind of joy instantly sprung up, lifting my spirits. As I got up to speak in front of so many fresh faces, a torrent of stories and insights splashed out of me. Some I hope will find their mark and make some difference. Few there that night would need to be transformed the way a fifteen year old Anthony had after all.
Ash Barker UNOH Director – Bangkok Chapter
Check out more of UNOH's Wild Ones stories on the Wild Ones blog
Shalom Mark
A few weeks ago I experienced an unexpected joy. It was my last night in Oz as I faced my fifty-first meeting, in my third city, in fourteen days. My tongue felt six inches thick, my throat was cracked red and my head was dizzy longing to hit the pillow on my sixth bed for the trip. This wouldn’t have been so bad, but a couple of hundred smart dressed 15 to 20 year olds started to arrive through the church doors ready to hear me speak. I was so spent that I wasn’t even sure I could put an intelligible sentence together never mind persuade any-body of God’s heart-beat for the poor.
That’s when it happened. A huge Islander walked across the room and shook me by the hand.
“Remember me?” My mind was tanked, but I did know this guy. His eyes smiled.
“Huh. Its me Anthony, well Anton now. I used to live with you fellas.”
My knees buckled, nearly toppling over as I realized who this was. This was not the fuming, angry, skinny fifteen year-old Anthony, I’d last seen fifteen years ago. Here was a weather beaten, but peaceful man, now known as Anton. He was the last person I’d expected to see at this church, not least because last time I’d heard he was doing a very long jail stretch.
Anton spoke fast, letting me know how he found Jesus in solitary confinement. He had remembered how I had bought him fishing rod for his birthday and how we caught plenty of fish that day of a hired boat. I’d said, “one day you’ll be a fisher of men.” Alone in jail Anton said to God, “If you get me out of this jail I will speak your truth for the rest of my days.” Anton did get out of jail, tried to find me and for the last four years as well as holding down a steady job he has been sharing Jesus with all who will listen in a kind of gutsy, street-level way. Anton saw this new life as a kind of fulfillment in those words I vaguely remember saying years ago.
A kind of joy instantly sprung up, lifting my spirits. As I got up to speak in front of so many fresh faces, a torrent of stories and insights splashed out of me. Some I hope will find their mark and make some difference. Few there that night would need to be transformed the way a fifteen year old Anthony had after all.
After the service I went back to a mutual friend’s house for dinner and Anton told me his whole story. I met too some of his friends and neighbours who band together to love and serve Jesus in their inner-city Adelaide neighbourhood. They kept prompting Anton to tell this story or that. “Aye, you’re the fishing guy then, are you? Heard that one a few times!” one said. Like, Anton, none had easy lives, but like Anton all were seeking to find a fresh way forward with Jesus and desperate for other to know this transforming power too.
Within 24 hours of that dinner I was dragging my luggage through our slum neighbourhood’s narrow lane ways toward my home. I often feel flat and empty after such crazy trips, questioning their worth. When I rest up I do see their value, but this time even this long, dark walk carried a deep sense of joy. Sure speaking, writing, lecturing and scheming for the kingdom has its place, but nothing beats hearing how God uses our small deeds done with a lot of love to bear fruit in ways you least expect it. Viva the revolution of the small Jesus-deeds!
Ash Barker UNOH Director – Bangkok Chapter
Check out more of UNOH's Wild Ones stories on the Wild Ones blog
Shalom Mark
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