Thanks for the experience everyone, it was really good. I’m now heading back to www.jubileeman.wordpress.com and, like Blaise, will try to post daily. I’ll keep this site ready for 2009!
Incidentally, had a great time at laser skirmish with STEVOS (yrs 4-6). Jemima came too…
Later everyone!
Met up with my old buddy and mentor David Miles today – always a great time! He has a lot of Christian wisdom. Interestingly, David has his own mentor (he is nearly 50 himself – hope that’s ok for me to say!) who he talks things through with. There is such value in having a mentor/being discipled! You need someone who can help you ‘progress’ in your Christian faith and understanding! And it’s always a two way thing (ie the mentor discovers as much from God through you as you do from them).
Nothing much else to report. I’m going to Lazer skirmish at Mittagong (yes MIttagong!) on Saturday at 12.45pm…with the STEVOS primary school group. Will take Jemima.
Hi again all. Feeling sad that day 31 is nearly upon us. I will try to keep blogging daily, it’s fun!
Day off today. I spent the morning groggy again (beginnings of a cold?) then got up and Cecily, JJ and I went to Bowral. there we split up – I went to see Iron Man, Cecily and JJ to library and shoe shopping!
I got a first edition of a new journal I have subscribed to – the Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care - (hey, for me this is interesting!) which has been great to read through. Listening to a mixture of sacred choral music and Flight of the Conchords (songwords: you’re leaving…I can tell/cos’ I can see you leaving/I’m not crying/it’s just raining…on my face/I’m not crying…I’ve been cutting onions/’cause I’m making a lasagne).
Going to library this afternoon. It’s cold. Feeling groggy and tired still. I’m going to snug up under my heavy queen size doona and read and listen to music this arvo. Hooray!
Feeling very groggy today – just really weary. Not sure why…maybe a virus…
In other incidental news:
We’ve got a men’s breakfast here at MAC on Saturday morning at 8.30am – 50 men coming, should be good!
Took James shopping with me at lunchtime. He loves coming with me in the car – it doesn’t matter where. He is the total opposite of Campbell in that way. Campbell hates going anywhere!
Been reading a book on youth ministry by a bloke called Mark Yaconelli which has been great – lots of ideas from him.
Been ‘practising the presence of God’ – ie slowing down and trying to listen to what GOd has to say. Meditating on his word, reflecting, praying, spending time thinking about certain phrases from my bible readings (eg Psalm 51 – ‘You delight in truth in the inner being’).
It’s been great.
My 4pm cafe meeting with a Sunday at 6 person is off – just rang.
Is there anything I can pray for you?
Overseas there is a huge wave of change going on in churches – much like you may have heard of the Toronto Blessing and all that sort of thing. I suspect over the next few years it will come to Australia. Hopefully it s a rich work of the Holy Spirit and not just us trying to be too cool for school.
It’s Christian Spirituality – a return to some of the prayer and Christian life practices of our Christian fathers and mothers. You’ll hear words like meditation, contemplation, ‘lectio divina’ (reflecting on scripture), ‘inner soul life’ re-enter our vocabulary within 10 years. Names like Teresa of Avila, St John of the Cross, Augustine, Thomas Merton, and the Puritans are going to hit our stage.
I think it’s a reaction to the programmed, technique focussed, event-centred style of church we’ve had over the last 15 years or so.
People of my generation and below are getting a little tired of it. I think we’re tired of having obsessively neat edges to church without seeing through the neatness to the messiness of real life and how our incredible God can hold our hand through the messiness. We don’t want to be told just to read our bibles more and it will be ok – try harder! We want to discover and mine the depths and riches of God and see what he thinks about every area of our lives. We’ve heard of the radical faith of the people who’ve gone before us and wonder what went wrong with our generation. And there is so much more to write about!
So – you heard it here first. Bring it on God.
At last – something decent to watch after church! Have you seen ‘Flight of the Conchords’ on channel 10?
It’s a story of a couple of New Zealanders who are in a band together trying to make it in New York, they have a New Zealander agent who is trying to get them gigs but has only ever gotten them one.
It’s hilarious and they sing two of their songs per episode which are parodies of different musical genres (eg in one rap song one of them calls himself the ‘Rhyme-noceros’).
Anyway, I belly-laugh at this show which I haven’t done for a while! Thoroughly recommended. Catch it at http://www.hbo.com/conchords/ .
Campbell is sitting next to me at the moment playing Larry and Bob from Veggie Tales with real vegetables.
Huge day today but nice to be home with the fam at the end of it. Jemima lost her hockey match 2-1. James is in the bath with mum playing barbies. Jemima is reading books (as usual). I am on the computer (as usual!). Realised we only have 7 more days of M-blogging for 2008.
Australia is winning the cricket, happy about that. There is enough money to keep Cecily and I in Mittagong which we are happy about. We’re going to Cirque du Soleil in July on Cecily’s birthday which I am happy about. I have a huge swirl of thoughts and ideas about church which I am happy to keep thinking about, even ‘though I frustrate myself not being able to follow up on them all. Saw Cecily’s family last night which I am happy about. And of course, I am happy about my beautiful family God has given me.
It’s nice to think about what you can be happy about and thank God for, it can put things in perspective!
Guys, I need your opinion…on my other blog I put up some links to a course I’ve been considering doing.
The course flows from the basic idea that churches do all they can to bring people into church to become Christians. This is a great thing.
However we may not be so good at the next steps for Christians – that is, what do we do now? How do we grow as Christians? How do we live daily to serve God? What does that look like? Why am I floundering in my faith? How can we foster a ’spiritual’ community bursting with dynamic Christians?
Anyway – let me know what you think of the link (if you get a chance to read the spiels) and if you agree with the paragraph above. I want to know!
