Katoomba Christian Conventions figure strongly in the experience of many Christian young adults. In my mid 20s I attended a few KCCs, where incidentally, I met one of my most enduring friends (30 years now). The Jensen boys were speaking at the first one I attended. I later attended the church where they served.
At that time the Convention was wonderful: the sheer numbers were impressive, about 5,000 were there, I think. There was a little of the herd feeling given the size, and a superficial uniformity that reached into 'serious' conversations. Even those could be superficial, but I did meet genuine people as well. It was almost cult-like in some respects. By 'superficial' I mean they conformed to an expected pattern, and the conversations were almost predictable. All except for the friend I'd met whose conversations were penetrating, critical and informed. What a relief.
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I attended a Convention some years after this and discovered that my first impression had matured--at least the accommodation at The Grange was pleasant (before it belonged to Barker); memorably I met a young woman there who had just had surgery for a similar hand deformity to me! Thrilling! (Don't worry, its a bone growth that is not visible to you)--but I was now righter than before: even within broad evangelicalism, there was a lack of critical thinking through the Scriptures due to the dead hand of Calvinism, and while it was thought provoking in certain ways, it finally left me cold.
[I had a similar experience when I re-read something by Pannenberg that I'd read at L'Abri many years ago. It was of that time not of this one! Moltmann's work has a similar effect, although I do like some of his thinking.]
My most recent adventure at Katoomba was a men's convention I attended with others from St Swithun's, a church that wife and I really felt a part of but had to leave to better accommodate the needs of young children.
A group of young women was prowling with a video camera between sessions, in fact after a session when the speaker had been telling some very unfortunate jokes, the butt of which was women! The jokes were dreadful, and I wrote to the organisers to complain. [The speaker later divulged a past 'problem' with pornography...its doleful effect distorting his view of women was clearly enduring.]
The youngsters were asking what I thought of the convention. I told them I didn't think much of it because I found it objectionable that the church split along sex lines and I found the jokes in the previous session to be simply bad; very bad. Oddly, my comments weren't shown on the big screen! Typical.
I've not been back.
Friday, March 6, 2015
Thursday, March 5, 2015
36: 4-12
As the astute reader might surmise, its getting tedious doing the 36 questions. I'll do them in bulk from now on.
4. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?
At work: everyone I’ve dealt with feels positive and we achieve good.
At home: house work done, becoming lost in a project, family in the circle but likewise enjoying their interests.
5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?
I don’t. Well, I do: I like to put nonsense lyrics to well known tunes for the benefit of my family. However, they do not detect a benefit in my efforts and politely ignore them.
6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?
The mind of a 30 year old? So immature, so unfurnished.
7. Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?
No. I'm more interested in they hope beyond where Joshua of Nazareth has gone before.
8. Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common.
I don’t have a ‘partner’ I have a wife: Christian faith, interests in the arts and business, interest in people’s motivations.
9. For what in your life do you feel most grateful?
[the 'Christian' answer aside] Living in Australia in C21.
10. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?
A butler.
11. Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible.
Well, I'm not going to do that on the Internet!
12. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?
Able to more effectively engage people in satisfying (for them) conversation.
4. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?
At work: everyone I’ve dealt with feels positive and we achieve good.
At home: house work done, becoming lost in a project, family in the circle but likewise enjoying their interests.
5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?
I don’t. Well, I do: I like to put nonsense lyrics to well known tunes for the benefit of my family. However, they do not detect a benefit in my efforts and politely ignore them.
6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?
The mind of a 30 year old? So immature, so unfurnished.
7. Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?
No. I'm more interested in they hope beyond where Joshua of Nazareth has gone before.
8. Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common.
I don’t have a ‘partner’ I have a wife: Christian faith, interests in the arts and business, interest in people’s motivations.
9. For what in your life do you feel most grateful?
[the 'Christian' answer aside] Living in Australia in C21.
10. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?
A butler.
11. Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible.
Well, I'm not going to do that on the Internet!
12. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?
Able to more effectively engage people in satisfying (for them) conversation.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Shepherds
John Darnielle's mention of the 23'd Psalm on a recent radio interview got me to thinking as I was driving through the swirling rain on the motorway...The Spirit often talks of shepherds in the Bible.
Let's put 'shepherd' into today's terms. What would be the job today that would be equivalent to shepherd then? Try 'garbage truck driver'.
Just see how striking the picture is now:
The Lord is my garbage truck driver, I shall not want...An angel appeared to garbage truck drivers checking their trucks one night...
Does who God is grip you? Our categories and priorities mean nothing to him...nothing. We'd better get that straight as we follow him; because that's how the new creation will be: his categories, not ours.
Let's put 'shepherd' into today's terms. What would be the job today that would be equivalent to shepherd then? Try 'garbage truck driver'.
Just see how striking the picture is now:
The Lord is my garbage truck driver, I shall not want...An angel appeared to garbage truck drivers checking their trucks one night...
Does who God is grip you? Our categories and priorities mean nothing to him...nothing. We'd better get that straight as we follow him; because that's how the new creation will be: his categories, not ours.
Women in ministry: first contact
In my post on Julia Baird's article on Piper I mention the problem that the Sydney Anglican diocese has with women ministering as rector.
My interest in women's ministry was piqued in the mid 80s when a friend at the time, Delta, I'll call her, expressed to me her frustration at being discouraged in her ministry calling by the men who were administering the Baptist church she was part of in south-west Sydney.
I felt for her then, but was puzzled why she would face such a barrier, as in the Churches of Christ in which my family had been long involved, there didn't seem to be a problem. There were women in respected ministry positions, including teaching at the Woolwich Bible College. None as the paid pastor, tho, as far as I knew then.
Later on I became involved with Men Women and God, convened, from memory, by Gerald and Rosemary Christmas. They hosted a memorable speaking tour by David Scholer, a great advocate for the complete ministry equality of males and females. I obtained a copy of his lecture notes from Fuller, where he taught.
In a previous post I mentioned my efforts in the debate on this matter in the Presbyterian church, in which I started my Christian life and so felt something for it; I don't think they came to much, although John Bracht, the minister, was encouraging. He later left for the Baptists over the Presbyterian intransigence on the matter.
My interest in women's ministry was piqued in the mid 80s when a friend at the time, Delta, I'll call her, expressed to me her frustration at being discouraged in her ministry calling by the men who were administering the Baptist church she was part of in south-west Sydney.
I felt for her then, but was puzzled why she would face such a barrier, as in the Churches of Christ in which my family had been long involved, there didn't seem to be a problem. There were women in respected ministry positions, including teaching at the Woolwich Bible College. None as the paid pastor, tho, as far as I knew then.
Later on I became involved with Men Women and God, convened, from memory, by Gerald and Rosemary Christmas. They hosted a memorable speaking tour by David Scholer, a great advocate for the complete ministry equality of males and females. I obtained a copy of his lecture notes from Fuller, where he taught.
In a previous post I mentioned my efforts in the debate on this matter in the Presbyterian church, in which I started my Christian life and so felt something for it; I don't think they came to much, although John Bracht, the minister, was encouraging. He later left for the Baptists over the Presbyterian intransigence on the matter.
Monday, March 2, 2015
Big Sunday
One of my favourite films is "Big Wednesday". I'm not that interested in surfing, the film's subject, but it rings with me with its themes of loss and anticipation, of unfolding life, of connections strained and broken...today was Big Sunday in a completely other sense.
Communion, being the first Sunday of the month; communion isn't 'big' in Baptist churches, compared to my years at St James...think patronal festival--that's BIG; but the hymns were great. We started with Be Thou My Vision, which always moves me: upwards. The sermon was a tag-team effort with our two girl ministers taking us through the Shema. Another 'very good' part of the service.
I also met LeeLing who was here for the first time with one of her grandchildren. She was lovely and true to the meaning of her name (you have to find that out).
While I write, with family out, I'm listening to a recording of Brahams String Quartets, up loud.
None of this is the 'big' of the title.
The 'big' of the title is the announcement that we are to forge ahead with the extensions to the church premises. The estimate is about $2.75 million for what is called a 'growth-in-contact' extension. Knowing how Quantity Surveyors estimate things, I'd say $3 mill. We were asked to consider our support for the project. Now it hits home: I might have to shelve, or at least adjust my plans for a new Ettinger portfolio case! Not hard, I think...well, yes hard...but I know which is the more valuable in the mind of our Lord.
Communion, being the first Sunday of the month; communion isn't 'big' in Baptist churches, compared to my years at St James...think patronal festival--that's BIG; but the hymns were great. We started with Be Thou My Vision, which always moves me: upwards. The sermon was a tag-team effort with our two girl ministers taking us through the Shema. Another 'very good' part of the service.
I also met LeeLing who was here for the first time with one of her grandchildren. She was lovely and true to the meaning of her name (you have to find that out).
While I write, with family out, I'm listening to a recording of Brahams String Quartets, up loud.
None of this is the 'big' of the title.
The 'big' of the title is the announcement that we are to forge ahead with the extensions to the church premises. The estimate is about $2.75 million for what is called a 'growth-in-contact' extension. Knowing how Quantity Surveyors estimate things, I'd say $3 mill. We were asked to consider our support for the project. Now it hits home: I might have to shelve, or at least adjust my plans for a new Ettinger portfolio case! Not hard, I think...well, yes hard...but I know which is the more valuable in the mind of our Lord.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Piper, Julia and me.
To Julia Baird:
I was pleased to read your critical mention of John Piper in today's SMH article. Despite, or maybe because of many years in Anglican churches, I have become very wary of the Calvinist program (or maybe it's neo-Calvinist) that runs in the diocese. Moreover, the casting of the church family into an 'authority' structure is the start of the social error and the misreading of scripture that abounds in the Sydney view of male-female relationships. To think that in the equality and mutuality of marriage there is a 'leader' is abhorrent and contrary to the tenor of Paul's corpus (when one puts aside the 'authority' lens).
Some of the work on the Christians for Biblical Equality website I've found fruitful in my thinking in this area, and would hope that it would penetrate the minds of the blokes who serve in the diocese...I wish they primarily characterised their activity as 'serving' as well, and not 'leading', which it is not.
BTW, a critique of Piper. I'm not vouching for it, and might not agree with everything (yada yada), but there it is. Here's another, same proviso.
I was pleased to read your critical mention of John Piper in today's SMH article. Despite, or maybe because of many years in Anglican churches, I have become very wary of the Calvinist program (or maybe it's neo-Calvinist) that runs in the diocese. Moreover, the casting of the church family into an 'authority' structure is the start of the social error and the misreading of scripture that abounds in the Sydney view of male-female relationships. To think that in the equality and mutuality of marriage there is a 'leader' is abhorrent and contrary to the tenor of Paul's corpus (when one puts aside the 'authority' lens).
Some of the work on the Christians for Biblical Equality website I've found fruitful in my thinking in this area, and would hope that it would penetrate the minds of the blokes who serve in the diocese...I wish they primarily characterised their activity as 'serving' as well, and not 'leading', which it is not.
BTW, a critique of Piper. I'm not vouching for it, and might not agree with everything (yada yada), but there it is. Here's another, same proviso.
Make the world gooder!
At the Sydney University O-week I heard the atheists bleating the usual 'if God is so good why doesn't he make the world good'.
The trouble with this statement is that it doesn't entail a critique of its own basic premise.
What it wants is that God 'fixes' this world, as it is...atheists think that this question represents the fatal undoing of Christian belief. It does not; it demonstrates the flaw in the atheist world view.
The question is usually asked within terms of a materialist world view, and those asking fail to acknowledge this; they recognise the broken world problem, and having no answer they want to say that Christ has no answer. But they fail to understand that the problem is a relational one, between persons, and not a purely 'mechanical' problem where the 'god' that they imagine can just fix it, but leave them in their dis-related state with the creator.
That's not possible of course, and most Christian apologetic fails to deal with it effectively because it is based on a theology which has unexamined materialist foundations: it inadvertently posits a creation that is not from and only from the hand of a loving God, but one into which God intervenes but some other external 'principle' is entertained. It also fails to deal with the basic-ness of God as love; and love is about relationship.
So, the materialist cannot have their 'god' fix the world and remain out of relationship with him, because the 'out of relationshipness' is the cause of the problem. And God has fixed that in terms of the relationship itself.
The trouble with this statement is that it doesn't entail a critique of its own basic premise.
What it wants is that God 'fixes' this world, as it is...atheists think that this question represents the fatal undoing of Christian belief. It does not; it demonstrates the flaw in the atheist world view.
The question is usually asked within terms of a materialist world view, and those asking fail to acknowledge this; they recognise the broken world problem, and having no answer they want to say that Christ has no answer. But they fail to understand that the problem is a relational one, between persons, and not a purely 'mechanical' problem where the 'god' that they imagine can just fix it, but leave them in their dis-related state with the creator.
That's not possible of course, and most Christian apologetic fails to deal with it effectively because it is based on a theology which has unexamined materialist foundations: it inadvertently posits a creation that is not from and only from the hand of a loving God, but one into which God intervenes but some other external 'principle' is entertained. It also fails to deal with the basic-ness of God as love; and love is about relationship.
So, the materialist cannot have their 'god' fix the world and remain out of relationship with him, because the 'out of relationshipness' is the cause of the problem. And God has fixed that in terms of the relationship itself.
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