Oasis
You gotta love the way God works dont you?!
Earlier this week I started reading Joshua on the train. I was challenged by these words:
"Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." Josh 1:8
While I realise the command to meditate on the word day and night is more than actually spending time reading the word, it definately challenged me, rebuked me, reminded me, that I do not spend enough time reading the Bible and meditating on what God has to say to me.
Well, having realised this, changes to my plans last night which initially disappointed, turned out to be a blessing.
Finishing uni at 5 and planning to go to a gig in Newtown that evening, I decided there was no point going home but rather killing time in the funky place that is newtown was the best solution. But instead of meeting friends for dinner as hoped, I retreated into the depths of one of the million thai places on king st and opened the Bible. Yep, God had shown me during the week that i needed more time like this, and last night he delivered it straight into my hands. What a blessing.
Anyway, here is a passage I was challenged by last night that I thought i'd share with you:
"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act towrads outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." Colossians 4:2-6
I dont know about you, but I think I can learn alot from Paul. As I wrote Bible study from his letter to the Colossians, I was reminded to also pray what he prays. And in light of conversations I had had with uni friends earlier that day about the way our lecturer seems to get things wrong about the Christian church and we need to counteract that, so to speak, verses 5 and 6 were also a good reminder.
Two reminders, to meditate on the word of God day and night and to be devoted to prayer. Two things which are essential to Chrisitan living. Two things that we hear and discuss all the time and I teach the girls I lead. But two things I am glad God brought to my attention this week. A reminder needed in the midst of a few crazy weeks at uni where work and life become too much.
A reminder like an oasis in a desert.
(Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the gig I went to last night was James Cooper. Check him out and buy his cd, he is brilliant.)
Prayer and Praise
What would you say?
This semester I am doing a subject called 'Censorship and Responsibility in the Media'. It has proven to be quite interesting. And also quite challenging, as the ground covered will often relate back to morals, and Christianity, in some way. In one tutorial we ended up discussing whether drawing an image of God or Jesus is blasphemous for Christians according to the Ten Commandments. In that tutorial it became evident that i am the only Christain in the class and that amongst that group we also have jewish and muslim people, and an atheist tutor. Interesting mix i promise you, but thats the good thing about uni, right?!
This week the lecture topic was Free Speech and Australia Today. As our guest lecturer proceeded to talk about the censorship of desire in todays society, he said that to understand why we are the way we are with regard to censorship we must "begin as we always must, and thats with Christ"...hm interesting!..
So, he then attempted to explain history of the Christian church (with focus mostly on Catholic church actually) as well as the morals of the Roman empire. His main point seemed to be that Christians measured morality on sexual purity. And that the rules established then are what set the world onto the path it is on now, in terms of how we respond to certain behaviours etc.
He assumed that everyone in the lecture theatre would no longer follow 'rules' about sex before marriage. He also mentioned that in Australia we live in such a secular society, with less than 10% attending church each week. He said that "few of us worship but we respect those who do" (which I thought was somewhat hypocrytical considering some of the things he'd said that i thought were not so respectful). And he said that because we do live in such a secular society we have censorship as a consolation prize for those concerned with the morals etc set up in the time of Christ. A consolation prize! Fair call in some ways, but also sad to see it that way!
Ok, now I dont know if my brief explanation here was very clear, and i dont know what you may think about censorhip in general. I would however be interested in what your responses to these comments would be!?! (please share!)
I sat in that lecture feeling somewhat offended by the way he spoke about Christians. While I could see where he was coming from with the comment that todays morals and opinions on censorhip are greatly shaped by the time of Christ, i was saddened to hear his view was somewhat misled, and biased, which was in itself frustrating cos he spoke in such a convincing way to so many people in this lecture, and does so for a living (he is a journalist). He seemed to miss some of the main points of Christianity, and like many others, seemed to associate it with rule following. And then just use this to make his point. Now my aim here is not to simply criticise the man, that doesnt get anyone anywhere. As I said, his words and attitude saddened me. And I think it was probably because it was representative of the attitude of so many today. There is so much more to say about this topic - if you are interested in hearing more bout it let me know!
Birthday Jazz...
Thursday night I headed into the city to enjoy some jazzy tunes at The Basement and celebrate JT's birthday! I gotta say, I love a bit of live music, and definately think jazz is best experienced live. Steve Morrison and the gang were great, and it was fun times meeting a bunch of cool Moore College people! I had a good night, I hope they did too.
Cheers to Josh - Happy Birthday dude!!
Friday night bible study with my lovely (but psycho) year 9 girls was again good times. We are still working our way through Colossians - such a great book with so much to learn, and had some quality discussion and questions arising. What was most exciting about the evening though was the return of a girl who has not been in at least a year and the fact she brought a friend too! Praise God! I just hope they felt welcome and will want to return!
Sunny Spring Saturday
This afternoon I was blessed to enjoy a tastey lunch out with my family - my brother up from melbourne again and my parents celebrating their wedding anniversary, it was lovely to spend this time with them. There are a few pics from the afternoon here and on flicker.
Prayer and Praise:
If you are the praying kind, please take a moment to pray for the following in light of the things I have just shared, it would be greatly appreciated
- pray for David Marr (the lecturer who spoke on thursday re:censorhip) and those in my class. And I'd especially appreciate prayer for myself, as these issues are more than likely to come up again in my tutorial on tuesday afternoon - I hope and pray God will help me to be a good witness in those discussions.
- pray for the two girls (Elise and Alice) who came to B/s friday too please!
-Finally, praise God for these girls, for good friends, and for time spent with family.
Thank you!
Mission Statement
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
1 Peter 2:9-12
My identity. And a mission statement.
I had planned to fill you in on CCSI womens retreat much sooner than this, but life has been somewhat crazy. But here we go...
7:45 departure saturday morning, we headed down south to Stanwell Tops. While there was a severe lack of sleep and a certain intensity to the day with 3 talks and a seminar, it was absolutely worth it! I am so glad i went. The talks were on Ephesians, in summary, establishing that as Christian women, our identity is in Christ (which you may remember was mentioned in a previous post), and therefore how we much live as imitators of Christ, clothing ourselves in truth and purity, among other things. We also heard a bit about one to one discipleship, which was interesting to consider how this works and how and when is best to put it into practice. Have you had any experience with this? Let me know!
After a very tastey lunch there was a walk along the coast and a stop at an art gallery and a cute little coffee shop....which happened to be full of CCSI women!
Overall it was both a challenging and encouraging day. And it is awesome getting to know older Christian women - some of whom have been Christians for over 40 years! - from different congregations within our church, learning from them, and encouraging each other.
Here are a few pics from the day...
Cold Ham, Cold Chicken
I am currently meant to be writing an essay on free speech and social responsibility, so I cant really give you a proper update right now.
Instead, I'll leave you with a few thoughts and photos to contemplate.
1. A photo taken of a work at the Biennale last weekend. I like the quote.
2. A pic taken yesterday during free time on CCSI Women's Retreat. This was a postcard stuck to the railing of the walkway we were on. Pretty cool. Especially with the ocean stretching off to the horizon in the background.
3. A quote. These are a few lines from the song May the Mind of Christ, which we sang this morning at TC, and which I think is a good focus and reminder for the rest of the week...
"May the Word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
Only through His power."
All energy we need to get through each day, each task and each hour, comes from Him. :)
Grace Like Rain Falls Down On Me!
Here are two songs by Todd Agnew I have been listening these last couple of days. I was going to just post just one, but they have both equally moved me this week and express whats on my heart. I hope they encourage and challenge you too.
Come Ye Sinners
Come ye sinners, poor and needy
Weak and wounded, sick and sore
Jesus ready stands to save you
Full of pity, love, and power
Come ye thirsty, come and welcome
God's free bounty glorify
True belief and true repentance
Every grace that brings you nigh
I will arise and go to Jesus
He will embrace me in His arms
In the arms of my dear Savior
Oh, there are ten thousand charms
Come ye weary, heavy-laden
Lost and ruined by the fall
If you tarry until you're better
You will never come at all
Wait for your Rain
I cannot believe I'm this dirty
I'm ashamed to even ask to be clean
'Cause I can't think of anyone less worthy
I have nothing to offer or to bring
I throw myself on Your mercy
I throw myself at Your feet
I throw my filth on the grace
of One who's beauty is beyond me
And I wait
And I wait
I'm not even sure how I got here
Wondered to this darkness from Your light
I still remember walking in the garden with You
Now I'm just stumbling through this night
I throw myself on Your mercy
I throw myself at Your feet
I throw my filth on the grace
of One who's beauty is beyond meAnd I waitAnd I wait
I wait for Your rain to fall
The waves of Your grace wash over me
I wait for Your rain to fall
Strange how forgiveness comes so easily
When I call Your name
And wait for Your rain
Lord, this desert is killing me
My throat's dry from screaming Your name
I want to come home but the sands of time surround me
The dirt's finally covered my shame
So I throw myself on Your mercy
I throw myself at Your feet
I throw my filth on the grace
of One who's beauty is beyond me
And I wait
"Why am I here? Where did I come from?"
Charlie Kaufman, Adaptation
This quote kinda sums up my saturday really.
Let me explain.
A beautiful sunny day. A walk over the bridge to the MCA and Pier 2/3 for some art. A stroll through the Rocks markets. A hot chocolate by the beautiful harbour. A ferry trip at twilight. And a bit of photography in between (check out pics on flicker if u like!) And a film viewing in the evening.
Good times. Cheers N.
So how does a wander round sydney harbour and some art relate to questions of identity?
Well, aside from the fact that i looked and felt a lot like a tourist at times with my camera round my neck taking pics of icons of the city in which I live, its the art that we went to explore that kicked off the contemplation.
The theme for the 2006 Biennale of Sydney is 'Zones of Contact'. It deals with issues such as "the sense of home and belonging, and the experience of living outside one's own culture, or in contested territory".
A number of works delt with issues of national and personal identity (and how the two possibly relate). Some works questioned the role of history, events in history, and what we know of history, in shaping who we are and what we believe in. Some works explored issues of displacement. Some explored the role of religion in our lives.
Every single one was interesting and chalenging in some way.
It is said that the "artworks will inspire and move you, as well as expand your thinking." And in my opinion this is very true!
My words will not bring justice to these works, however. I could not begin to explain the works which I liked the most nor the way they all made me feel or what they made me think.
What I did love at the Pier (apart from the cool building which we decided would make a great apartment!) was the many portraits that accompanied the Anthony Gormley piece 'Asian Field'. They were all extreme closeups on the face. And what I loved is how every single one was different. How one can look entirely joyful while the next will look sad or lonely. And I love that its all about the eyes. They truely do say so much about a person, let you into what they are feeling. And they are truely unique. Which is beautiful!
All this talk about individuality and identity made me wonder where I find my identity. Who am I?
Yes, as I said, this question also arose in the film Adaptation which I watched last night. In it theres also another quote i found interesting: "you are what you love, not what loves you". True? hm not sure, to some extent perhaps..
So, is my identity in this country? My culture? My religion even? Or is it in my work, what I do with my life, like Kaufman was struggling with?
The only possible conclusion i could come up with is this: my identity is in Jesus Christ.
And that conclusion is kinda scary cos it makes you really question whether you are living your life according to that identity. In Colossians Paul prays that the Christians at Colosse may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way. Are we - am I - living a life worthy of the name of Christ? The name of the one who gave me life and whose name I reflect in everything when I choose to call myself a Christian!?!!
Something to think about methinks...
Heavenly Perspective
There are a number of things I want to write about right now.
I could write about the fact that I was lucky enough to go to Boy From Oz on sunday, and that it and Hugh Jackman were brilliant!
I could ramble on about how I am looking forward to spring (hence the picture)
I could quote some classic paragraphs from High Fidelity or give you insight into the songs Ive been playing pretty much non stop this week.
I could write about the two very good films I saw on saturday night. Or the way that one of them, Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind seems to make so many accurate observations about life, love and the pursuit of happiness.
Or then again I could tell you about the decisions I am currently trying to make; the choices for next year that are running through my mind as I attempt to figure out where God wants me and where I can best serve Him.
Some of these things would be perhaps more interesting for you than others. Some would perhaps be slightly more selfish than God honoring.
Alas I shall share none of the above at this very moment and instead share with you some thoughts from Bible study last night, in which we got stuck into 1 Peter.
I love this book. There is just so much in it! And Peter himself is an encouraging dude - to go from hating the idea of Christ on the cross to boldly and passionately preaching Christ crucified, I think we can learn a lot from this man!
What is also very encouraging is looking at the blessings, trials, and results described in 1 Peter 1:1-12! We are reminded of some of the blessings we receive through Jesus: great mercy, new birth, living hope, being shileded by God's power, salvation, grace, and inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, joy, revelation, peace, and the Holy Spirit.<br />All very cool things!
And if those numerous blessings greatly beyond what we could ever deserve are not enough to make you repent and believe and praise our Lord, then have a look at what the passage says about trials...
Peter reminds us that we can expect all kinds of trials. Things that will test your faith. But you know what? Amongst the suffering, the trials, the tears, the persecution and the pain, like the spring sun making its way into our chilly winter days, hope still shines through!
The bad is only for "a little while", they will not endure forever.
Yes, trials will come. But they are nothing in comparison to the blessings.
In other words, we are given a bigger perspective than the here and now. The here and now may be hard. But the promised future will be so, so, much better that nothing can compare!
"Inexpressible and glorious joy". I dont know about you, but the blessings we are promised through Jesus provide me with such a joy.
It is easy to get caught up in the idea that this life in this world and what it offers here, now, is what we have to live for. But even this thinking is a 'trial' that will drag you away from a heavenly perspective.
Take joy in what is to come people! And remember that as you endure in faith, praise, glory and honor will be given to God.
Do not let the here and now take over. Have a heavenly perspective.
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you"
Praise be to God
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Colossians 1:15-20
Do you realise just how big your God is?!
It seems we are so often speaking of Christ on the cross, yet do we speak enough of his divine nature and glory?!
These verses remind us of who Christ really is, the hright of his glory, do they not? God made visible to us. God not only before everyone in time, but supreme over ALL creation. ALL things for HIM. How is it then possible to live without him; to ignore the one who is before ALL things?!
I am leading my Bible study girls in a series on Colossians at the moment, and I am loving every minute of it. And I just have to say that last night was such a good night! Praise God!
We spent the whole study just looking at these 5 verses because the girls were struck by so many things and sharing so many awesome things about what God has been teaching them lately! This was probably the best B/s we've had in a while. Just seeing them get so into the Word and hearing what they had to say was awesome, and I am so thankful to our Lord for being able to be apart of that. My words in this post are not nearly sufficient enough to express the joy it brings me. All I can say is, again, it is awesome seeing God work in these kids hearts and lives, so praise be to Him!
We had people being struck by the fact that Jesus did walk this earth; people amazed that God is supreme over every single thing in this universe - that every star in the sky, every grain of sand, every breath you take, is controlled by Him!; and people sharing how over the recent months they have come to trust in Jesus as Lord, how comfortable and welcome they feel at Bible study, and how now she gets so personally offended when someone offends God, more so than if they would offend her or her family! A very very cool thing! These are just a few of the ways I was encouraged by my girls this friday! It is also so refreshing for me personally as I could not help but be reminded of the simple truths for which I continue to live my life.
I hope and pray we can have more nights like this. But more importantly, that God will continue to work in these girls.
Please feel free to share how you have been encouraged or challenged lately; Or any reason you feel a need to praise God, for as people united by one head, lets praise Him together!
The Nite of Mraz
Last night was Jason Mraz live at The Forum.
And I was lucky enough to go!
He's a very talented man and it was awesome to finally see him live! So so worth it!
The only disappointments came with the crowd requesting songs to the point of annoying and rude, and Mraz choosing not to play a few of the faves.
But having said that, it was a tops evening!
Highlights included a beautiful song he sang, just him and his guitar, one i'd never heard of before but simply gets the response 'wow'! As well as of course pre gig catch ups and crazy car trips with the wonderful people I went with - cheers guys, good times! You made the night almost as much as Mraz...almost ;)
Its all about the wordplay people...and it was brilliant!
