Check out the 'Republican Jesus' cartoons here. Hilarious!
Reflections on some current news stories
For the past couple of weeks there have been two stories dominating the Australian news media. The first is the plight of some miners trapped in a mine collapse, the long and arduous task of rescuing the two survivors (one died), and their eventual release yesterday. The second story concerns a little girl who was very badly burned some years back when a car ran into her pre-school - after a miraculous and much publicised recovery over the past few years, she was last week, again hit by a car while being pushed across a pedestrian crossing in her stroller and is now in critical but stable condition in hospital.
In church last Sunday, at my prompting, we prayed for the trapped miners as well as the family of the dead miner, and for little Sophie and her family as well. Yet even while asking people to pray for these situations, there was a nagging thought within me that wondered why we focus on certain people or situations which seem somehow newsworthy or attractive, while often ignoring the many other equally needy people or situations.
In the end I guess I decided that it's ok to focus on someone in particular, provided that they act as a symbol for all the others in need who don't get publicity. It's ok to pray for the current media cause célèbre, provided this leads you also to praying for all those who have not been highlighted by the media but nevertheless need the special hand of God in their lives too.
Airlie's Birthday
My gorgeous daughter Airlie Grace turns 4 tomorrow and we're all going out to visit the Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo. It's a 2.25 hr drive, so we're setting off early and hoping the sproglet will cope. Hopefully the gift of some “Learn your ABC's” music will make the ride more pleasant.
Last time I visited the Dubbo Zoo was in 1992 when I was in the midst of my ministry training and did a week stint working with a church in Yeoval. I seem to remember the Spider Monkeys were pretty cool. Hope they're still there.
Creeds - good or bad
HT to an old colleague, Fernando Gros, for pointing to an interesting discussion on emergent-us and ThinkTank about the place of creeds (or otherwise) in the emergent church.
It's a big topic (as some of the comments and Track-Backs on the two sites demonstrate), but my own top-of-the-head response is that the distinction related to the functions of creeds is important. One of the strong emphases of emerging church is relationship and I wonder whether the reality is that the proper functioning of creeds is to guide us in relationship - with God and with our co–religionists. That being said, the question then becomes whether a (theoretical emergent) creed or statement of belief is likely to lead to a deeper or richer relationship with God or with our fellow travellers on the emerging journey.
Of course these things always come down to a judgement call, but my own sense is that for many emerging church people who have been shaped (or perhaps mis-shaped!) by a programmatic and propositional approach to relationship with God, a more apophatic or agnostic approach actually enables a new appreciation for God and a new richness of possibilities in the relationship.
Similarly, my instinct is that our current situation is much less shaped by a previous sense of Christian isolation - the so called 'fortress mentality' - in which a statement of shared belief acts as a cohesive force within a group which sees itself as in some senses 'against' the outside world. Instead the kind of cultural optimism, and sense of the Misseo Dei as being much wider than the work of the Church, which characterises much emergent thinking is (IMO) much more likely to find nurture and sustenance in approaches which are always open to new ways of finding / considering / imaging the divine, even if they are not entirely consonant with the language of many Christian creeds, be they 'modern' or 'catholic'.
What then of the question of the emerging church's catholic tendencies? I guess I want to have my cake and eat it too, by saying that while we deliberately identify ourselves with the faith community which has derived coherence from the ecumenical creeds, we can continue to say that we do not regard adherence to those creeds as a necessary self-descriptor.
But then again, I may be talking nonsense - it often happens before my first coffee. :-)
Mac OS X Launchers
After spending about 2 weeks evaluating Quicksilver, Launchbar and Butler, I've taken the latter two off my system and am going to use Quicksilver for the time being. If you don't know what a launcher is - it lets you launch applications, open folder, open urls etc. by typing a few keystrokes rather than having to mouse around finding stuff. In some ways they work like Spotlight, except that they don't search inside files, and they allow fuzzy searches that use just a few letters in order - so (for example) Safari can be invoked by typing 'sf'. Now that example leads to a couple of other observations - firstly, the shortcuts don't have to be standardised - up until now I've always launched Safari using 'saf'. The second comment is that the program learns from your responses. So the first time I used 'sf', Quicksilver suggested “Sara Foster” - a contact from my address book. But when I didn't select that in a few fractions of a second (adjustable) a list of other possibilities popped up and i down arrowed till I found Safari. But the second time I used the abbreviation 'sf', Quicksilver automatically brought up Safari as the default, so a quick Return popped me over into my browser. And if I do want to see Sara Foster's details, all is not lost - invoking Quicksilver (a user selectable keystroke - I use Control-Space) and typing 'sfo' and Return immediately presents me with Sara's details in Address Book.
Quicksilver not only launches (or opens) things - it can also do many different actions on relevant objects too. So for example, after watching a funny video, a few keystrokes will automatically attach the file to an email message to a friend (selected with 2 or 3 letters of their name) and (depending which action has been trained to be my default), send it straight off with a previously created template message (“Thought you might like this...”), or it can open up my email program with the address and attachment already loaded, so I can write a longer message.
Different modules allow Quicksilver to interact with many programs, so I use it to browse, start, stop, and skip iTunes selections; it's possible to use it to directly manipulate graphics files (eg. scale a photo and convert to gif).
There's heaps more to Quicksilver as the following tutorials (and here) or reviews (or this comparative one) show. For my money Butler did just too many things and so was a bit complex to grab hold of - Quicksilver has many complex possibilities but works at a basic and easily understood level straight 'out of the box'. Launchbar seemed to have a similar feature set but three things turned me to QS instead: (1) a simple search for a folder I have called “Presentations” worked as expected in QS whereas LB gave me a great long list of presentation related things (subfolders, bookmarks, documentation) in which my folder was not listed; (2) QS looks cooler (I'm a Mac user after all!); and (3) QS is $19.95 cheaper, costing just $0.00.
If you're a Mac user, check it out - I think it's going to change the way I work for the better and save me from carpal tunnel syndrome as well.
I hate illogical arguments
I regularly listen to podcasts of my favourite ABC programs: Late Night Live, The Religion Report, The Spirit of Things, The Science Show, All in the Mind etc. Yesterday there was an interesting Religion Report show entitled Catholics and Condoms. The first interviewee was Dr Janet E. Smith, who holds the Fr. Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Ethics at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit. Dr Smith perpetrated the most illogical (and to my mind, morally bankrupt) argument I have heard in a long time. But first to a runner–up argument, also from Dr Smith: in defending the Catholic church's stance on the use of condoms, she made the comment that serious theologians were currently discussing whether the use of condoms was immoral, not because of their contraceptive effect but because the “unitive” act of intercourse was invalid because it was skin touching latex, rather than skin touching skin! Now I don't know about any of you but even when wearing a condom, I find it hard to have sex without a whole lot of touching going on. The image sprang to mind of 'serious Vatican theologians' careful studying a couple mid-coitus in order to ascertain what percentage of skin to skin contact there was or perhaps to determine whether the right bits were making any 'unitive' contact. My God! No wonder the vast majority of the community see us (Christians) as irrelevant.
Now with this comment I could have relaxed, my monthly quota of pseudo-academic inanity well and truly satified, but no... there was better to come! Dr Smith in full flight is a force to behold and her next foray concerned the specific case of married couples where one partner has aids, and (as the interviewer pointed out) in some cultures it is almost impossible for the wife to say no to the demand for intercourse with her husband (let alone the New Testament teaching that regular witholding is a moral evil). Dr Smith's tactic was masterful! Why (she asked) do we worry so much about condoms? Let us consider an analogy. If we had a problem with a bunch of men who went around beating women with sticks, why would we spend our time recommending that the women wear helmets? Wouldn't it be better to spend our time and energy stopping the men from doing it?
<Deep Sigh> Now here is the most perfect example imaginable of what Basil Mitchell (Nolloth Professor Emiritus of Philosophy of the Christian Religion, Oxford) calls “playing Theological Ping Pong”. Set up two options (ping and pong - telling women to wear helmets, stopping men beating them with sticks); imply without supporting argument that the two are mutually exclusive (which clearly they aren't), and then triumphantly declare that since it clearly isn't ping it must be pong! Let us dwell in Dr Smith's analogy for just a minute. Clearly it isn't right to ignore the reprehensible behaviour of the men. But nor is it right to ignore the actual plight of the women by insisting that it is morally wrong of them to wear helmets till their menfolk change! (Perhaps because it would disrupt the unitive nature of the club hitting her head!?) And part of the educative process with those men might well be empowering the women to say, “I can't stop you hitting me but I can wear a helmet so I won't be knocked out by your behaviour.” The logical paucity of this argument left me grinding my teeth in rage that the interviewer let it go through to the keeper without a blink.
Ok. Rant finished. Return to your normal life. I'm taking deep breaths...
A lovely, tiny game
I've just finished playing the loveliest little 'point and click' Flash game called Samarost (look under 'Flash Games'). Actually, there is a Samarost, and Samarost 2. The first game is free (play online or check out the source code to download the relevant .swf files to play off your hard disk). The sequel has two parts - Chapter 1 which is similarly free, and Chapter 2, which is only available if you pay $6.95 (US) IIRC to download the “full version”. You can play through both games in a matter of hours so you don't get a whole lot for your money, but the graphics are well done and sweet and it's just a charming experience.
As an aside, I have begun using this kind of interactive short clip in some church services, asking the congregation to vote on what to do next. I used one a fortnight ago put out by World Vision Australia - Who wants to be the Treasurer? There's also another one particularly relevant to Australia entitled, Our Neighbour's Children.
A new book for my wishlist
After reading a review of it on faithCommons, I'm keen to get a hold of Brian McLaren's new book, The Secret Message of Jesus
P.S. I like the look of faithCommons and will be adding it to my 'check regularly' list. There's a great rant with which I wholeheartedly agree here.
Crap Christian Music
Mark Berry asks whether Christian Music is crap, and I just couldn't resist posting this evidence for the prosecution!
What is a blog for?
Had an interesting conversation with our Presbytery youthworker yesterday. I asked if he blogged and he said no, he hadn't yet got into it. His comment was that he wasn't sure he had anything much worth saying. I remember feeling much the same when I first tried blogging. Well, actually, not so much that I had nothing to say, but more that my thoughts weren't fully formed, hadn't been properly researched, needed more polishing. I guess coming from an academic background my default position was that writing something involved sharing information and it ought to be well-rehearsed, accurate information.
But as I shared with Murray, I've come to see that information sharing isn't the main point of blogging - at least not information sharing in the technical, academic sense. Because ISTM that actually blogging is about relationship. The very 'incestuousness' which made my suspicious of blogging at first (most blogging is about other people's blogs) actually reveals the real purpose of the tool, which is not learning things, but growing relationships. And the information I learn from blogs isn't so much information about things as about people. I suppose this started to gel for me when I started regularly reading Mark's blog - not primarily to learn things, but to find out how a far distant mate was faring in life. I share myself in my blog - and of course that includes my thoughts, theories and wild ideas, but more potently it is a giving of myself. So to all three of my readers : Here you are! This is me! :-)
Video clips R Us
If you're at all like me, you have a hard disk full of funny (or poignant or deep) video clips for use in Church Services, seminars, workshops and to amuse friends. I have 750 and counting! One of the best resources I've found is the site Viral Videos. They only have 24 on display at any one time but they add new ones at a rate of about 8 every week. I get an email notification when they post a new bunch so I can hp straight over and download them all.
Here's one just for you Mark ;)
And here's an Aussie take on life...
Enjoy.
The Change to Typepad
I suppose it had to happen...
If I'm going to do this blogging thing I guess I need to do it right. So I'm migrating from Blogger to Typepad and I hope in the process I don't lose my 3 avid readers. (Actually I'm safe with one of them 'cause Suzie reads it directly on my computer...)
Update:
For some reason, using Ecto to transfer my posts overrode the date it said was on it and made them all as at today. So being the anally retentive guy I am I just spent the last hour manually editing them via the online interface - talk about a slow job!
A great resource
Further to my last post, if you are interested in exploring a range of music which is outside the bounds of 'church' music but nevertheless has though-provoking, spiritual lyrics, the check out the Alternative Hymnal. While you're there - check out the whole Digital Orthodoxy site - it's a great resource for those in youth ministry (and Darren is a great bloke too!).
Having reread the last two posts I'd better go away for a while and work out some synonyms for “great”.
Great lyrics from Paul Kelly
Today in our morning service I used a great song, Surely God is a lover, as our prayer of praise. Paul Kelly has some great lyrics and was very swift and gracious to grant me permission to use the song. I recommend browsing through his lyrics, then most of the songs can be bought through the iTunes Music store. Another one of his I've used in a church service as part of a contemplation time is Meet me in the middle of the air. Great stuff!
This makes me mad!
Some of you may be aware that recently 43 people from West Papua (a province of Indonesia just north of Australia) made their way to Australia and were granted temporary protection visas as refugees. This angered the Indonesian government which sees it as an affront to them - implying that Indonesia's governance of West Papua makes it an unsafe place for these people. Furthermore Indonesia is worried that Australia might support a Papuan independence movement.
The latest is that my church has been dragged into it. And this and this really make my blood boil! Our craven government's response to the Indonesian unrest is to promise that the way we process asylum seekers will change - in effect that we will kow-tow to Indonesian sentiment and not accept as refugees, anyone from Indonesia on such feeble grounds as the fact that their civil and religious rights are being infringed and they may face death if they are returned. Even in our current self-obssessed, right-wing mood, some commentators and others (here and here) have recognised that this a bridge too far.
In the midst of this, the Uniting Church (which has strong links with the Evangelical Christian Church) has striven to enable the voices of ordinary Papuans to be heard - read or listen to the informed account of Rev John Barr, Executive Secretary of Uniting International Mission. It's about time someone stood up for them. And Indonesian ambassadors can go to blazes. This situation is entirely of Indonesia's making and blaming the Uniting Church is mere subterfuge to draw attention away from their horrendous abrogation of human rights for the mainly melanesian, mainly Christian population of Papua.
A glimpse of the kingdom...
Perhaps it's because of the Sydney setting I know so well (Suzie and I did much of our courting round the forecourts of the Sydney Opera House) but a passage in a recent Brian McLaren post moved me to tears:
We walked down to the “Circular Quay” where the famous Sydney Opera House is situated. Across from the Opera House is a district called “The Rocks” - full of shops, sidewalk booths, etc. It was a perfect summer day, beautiful breeze, blue sky, sailboats filling the bay behind us. A jazz group was playing on a stage in a courtyard, and we got something to eat and enjoyed their music. A middle-aged couple got up and started dancing - they were amazing! Then an old lady got up, then an old man, and soon there were half-a-dozen people spontaneously dancing to this beautiful music - blues, swing, etc.
Near the stage, I noticed a five or six year old boy who appeared mentally handicapped. He was absolutely entranced with the music. He put up a fist to his mouth as if it were a trumpet and pretended to play it with his other hand. Soon, without realizing it, he had moved out beside the stage. His eyes were closed and he was playing his heart out on his imaginary trumpet. The sax player noticed this, and the hopped off the stage and stood beside the young guy. When he opened his eyes, the sax player started dancing around as he played and the little boy followed his lead. Then the trumpet player saw them, and he came down. The little boy in between the two musicians ... “playing” and dancing in an obvious state of ecstasy - the audience started applauding and I know my eyes were overflowing with tears to see something so beautiful and spontaneous and glorious.
Then I looked back to where the boy had been, and his grandfather was standing there in obvious delight to see his grandson so happy. I leaned over to Grace and whispered, “It's a glimpse of the kingdom of God.”
A story like that makes me yearn for the coming of the Kingdom - not “pie in the sky when we die by and by” - but “your will be done on earth as in heaven”. Amen.
I've been Gizoogled!
One of my favourite podcasts is StupidChurchPeople. Today I was over at the blogsite, checking to see that the boys were still alive, it having been weeks since a 'cast. I was reading the latest entry when (in the comments) I came across Gizoogle - what a hoot!
For your edification, here is the previous entry from the blog, gizoogled:
Of mud n men...
Heard an interest'n quote on tha radio today n shit. A fellow loosely quoted Jizzy Calvin as ho-slappin' “If we were mizzy of tha shiznit of stars, we might have sum-m sum-m of worth, but actually we is not made of tha shiznit of stars - we is mizzle of mud if you gots a paper stack. And we have not jiznust mud in our shoes, mud on our clothes, n mud on our faces, but mud in our hearts n mud in our souls.”
Of course tha irony is thizzat any cosmolizzles will tell you that actually we *are* made of tha shiznit of stars cuz this is how we do it. The carbon we is made of (and tha mud too fo` thizzay matta!) is mizzy from elements which can only be bizzle in tha heart of stars n shot out ta tha cosmos whizzen they die in spectacizzles supernovae.
This gots me gang bangin': is it only that we need a new metaphor, ta bring Calvin up-to-date scientifically? Or is it perhaps time fo` a new n more optimistic theolizzles anthropology - one which moves beyond an obsession wit sin n guilt, n rejoices in our status as children of tha stars?
I'm a bit worried about the gang bangin'... but maybe that's just my obsession wit sin n guilt n shit ;)
Of mud and men...
Heard an interesting quote on the radio today. A fellow loosely quoted John Calvin as saying “If we were made of the stuff of stars, we might have something of worth, but actually we are not made of the stuff of stars - we are made of mud. And we have not just mud in our shoes, mud on our clothes, and mud on our faces, but mud in our hearts and mud in our souls.”
Of course the irony is that any cosmologist will tell you that actually we *are* made of the stuff of stars. The carbon we are made of (and the mud too for that matter!) is made from elements which can only be born in the heart of stars and shot out to the cosmos when they die in spectacular supernovae.
This got me thinking: is it only that we need a new metaphor, to bring Calvin up-to-date scientifically? Or is it perhaps time for a new and more optimistic theological anthropology - one which moves beyond an obsession with sin and guilt, and rejoices in our status as children of the stars?
'Working Carers' and IR changes
I was listening to the ABC this morning - a program about 'working carers' (people who have to work but also have an elderly or disabled person they care for.
The interviewee, who runs the working carers gateway above said that the recent IR changes had some good points for working carers. In particular, individual workplace agreements could enable workers to negotiate some added flexibility in hours or times for their situation as carers. She acknowledged that while there were some employers who would use the legislation to “screw down their workers”, that most reasonable employers would not want to lose the education, training and skills represented by working carers in their employ. She mentioned the current skills shortage which puts employees in a position of strength.
That's when it hit me once again - like most of the things this government does, the IR changes probably WON'T affect those who are the well-educated, well-trained members of our workforce - those in a position to use their skills as a bargaining tool. Instead, yet again, it will be the worst off in society, those who are unskilled or lacking experience who will feel the brunt of these IR changes.
Furthermore, I was struck by the term “the reasonable employer”. Of course the reasonable employer won't use the changes to “screw” her workers. But by its nature, legislation is not targetted at 'reasonable' people, but those who are unreasonable! And the Howard government's legislation just gives those unreasonable employers more power to make their worker's lives hell. Good one John!
Post-modernism once again
My friend Niall recently wrote about critical realism as an alternative to postmodernism. This seems to have been triggered by a concern that post-modernism was a philosophically incoherent mish-mash and not well thought of in academic circles. But I'm not too sure that the disdain of philosophers is relevant to the use of post-modernism as an identifier. You see my own take is that post-modernism is a cultural phenomenon more than it is a philosophical. Post-modernism refers primarily (ISTM) to the cultural shift which is simply responding to what started happening in philosophy as far back as Kant.
So if you want to call yourself post-modern, do so and academics be damned!