Marilynne Robinson hasn’t written many books but they have mostly been highly acclaimed. Gilead won the Pulitzer Prize in 2004. It was 24 years between it and her last book. I find that intriguing and kind of cool.

Gilead is about an ageing pastor, probably in his late 70s, who knows he is dying. He has married a much younger woman and they have one son who is 7. Ames, the pastor, is writing to his son since he knows the boy won’t have him about as he goes through adolescence into adulthood. Gilead is their little Midwest USA town and the book is his reflections, apprehensions and observations.

Gilead is the Christian book that isn’t a Christian book. Have a read, especially if you are starting to feel your age and are wondering what it all adds up to. It isn’t a fast book but the further it goes the more convinced I am that I will be reading this book again.

This is a story from Dysart in the coal mining area of central Queensland.  It came to me through my wife’s girlfriend, Marisa, who was on a mission team in Dysart for a year.  There was a woman in the little Dysart Baptist church who shared her testimony of coming to faith in Jesus.

This lady was married to a coal miner in the town.  They were tough , matter of fact folk who liked a drink, a smoke and a good BBQ with plenty of meat.  This may have contributed to the husband contracting cancer.

People in mining towns fall into three broad categories; the” in and outs”, who come for a couple of years, make some money and leave.  Then there are “10 year veterans” who have kept their plans in mind but have stayed longer than they intended but are still not seduced by the huge money and profligate lifestyle.  Then there are the “stayers”.  These folks usually don’t have a plan when they came and now, 10 plus years on, they still don’t have one.  They are the locals, but mining towns are often the inventions of the companies they depend upon, so these locals are nothing like folk who are born and bread in rural communities.  This couple were Dysart locals, so when he fell ill there was nowhere else to go.

As he lay dying in hospital, she sat by his bed.  Sure, there was medication and probably sedation but despite that one afternoon he sat bolt upright in bed, and exclaimed, “Jesus Christ!  There is a Jesus Christ!”  Now, there are a number of ways that statement could  be interpreted.  This chap wasn’t especially friendly with Jesus, so “Jesus Christ!” was a frequent expression of his.  But it was quite clear to his wife that this was oddly different.  She pacified him and tried to get him to lie down again but he was desperately alert and insisted on staying bolt upright.
“I have to confess to you”, he said.  “I have to tell you the things I’ve done wrong.”
She assured him that wasn’t necessary, but he was insistent and she gave in.  So he proceeded to confess to her everything that he felt ashamed of and had been betrayals in their relationship and his relationships with others.  She was incredulous as this hard man weepily begged her forgiveness.

At the conclusion of this never before experienced outpouring he lay down again.  She testified that in her opinion the man who lay back on that bed was a different man than the one who had sat up 10 minutes before.  She said he had a peace that she had never seen before.  It wasn’t relief alone, it was much more than that, as though a new spirit had entered him and replaced his aggressive, self righteous, crude blokeyness.

He died some days later, peaceful to the end.  This sent her on a search.  Who was this Jesus Christ who had visited her dying cancer ridden husband in the Dysart hospital and demanded that he reconcile with others and himself? Who was this Jesus Christ who had exerted such authority over him and brought him such unnatural peace?

Here search obviously led her to the Baptist church where she met the One she was looking for.  The one who had, since the time of her husband’s illness, revealed himself to her as well.

My brother took me to one of those degust – thingys, where you pay a fortune to get 10 courses with names like “Radish in soil” and “mouthful of beef cheek with puff of crab foam”. It was really interesting and I was kinda full at the end and I am telling you about it, so…..maybe less is more sometimes. Or maybe more isn’t always what great things are about.

Take bikinis, for example. Clearly, they are all about less being more. I know you pay more for less bikini. Which is kind of ironic.

What about pushbikes? A guy told me recently he discovered that his brakes were not as good as the other bits on his bike. By that he meant they were, metaphorically, Ford Falcon brakes rather thank Porsche Carrera brakes. You know, they did the job fine but he was really disappointed. I got on the internet to check out what the difference really was? Answer: his brakes were 22grams heavier than the posh ones and $400 cheaper than the posh ones. I tell you folks, less is more, lots more.

Most people I meet are control freaks. More control is good; my project, my outcomes, being right, controlling for success, my money blah, blah. Not many of us reckon less control is better than more control…..except God!

I’ve been studying the characters is the Old Book for a while now and God seems very keen that his people relinquish “control” as an outcome. Faith and trust, not control, are what he asks of me. Less manipulation and control freakery enables relationship to become a possibility.  God is very in to relationships.  The quality of our relationships is how the world will know we belong to him.  That’s the measure.  How are we performing [if that matters at all, which I'm not sure it does to God] on that basis?

I wonder if people who report being isolated and lonely are more controlling than those who are less controlling?  Controlling people don’t do relationships that well.  They are either winning and right or losing and fretful.

Anyway, if less is more, at least sometimes, perhaps we should try more relationship and less suspicion, controlling and defensiveness.  Who knows, maybe things will taste better, look better and just feel that bit lighter.

I’ve sat in a building in Mebourne this week wrestling along with 50 pastors about what’s next for Jesus’ bride the church. As we have done that it has felt a bit like dismembering a creature made and loved by God but in need of some change, some even think extermination and rebirth.

As I was talking with some people an old picture came to me. It was of the original Australia II yacht that won the Americas cup in the 1980s. You can see her in the Perth maritime museum with her revolutionary winged keel. She is a beautiful thing pared to the bone designed for nothing but pure speed.

We need keels as well as sails. The better the keel the more sail we can hoist. In church the keel are those good people who offer integrity, faith, resources and honouring of leadership. They are rarely going to initiate the new thing but the support the need for it. The sails are those pioneering types who want to go, go, go, in new adventures out on the rim of the church’s life or even way beyond it. To sail into deep enduring discipleship that will last we need the keel and the sails.

On Sunday we are having a discussion in our church to raise $1000000 plus to fund mission adventures into the future that we cannot even imagine today. That will test the quality, integrity and radical nature of the keel design. It might create amazing challenges to the sails as well as those who hoist them and try and steer the boat.

What wonderful challenges to have.

It feels as though society in general, which was drifting away from it’s connections to orthodox Christian faith is now in freefall. The see saw has well and truly passed half way.

This isn’t just an Everyman phenomena, this applies to churched and church people as well. One cannot assume that because someone occupies a pew that they are on the adventure. One local pastor said to me recently, “It’d be nice if I had a Christian in my congregation”. What?

If you want a passionate snapshot of what a modern day Apostle Paul might be and think like, read Simon Guillebaud’s book (ISBN-13 978-1-85424-760-5 UK). He gives an idea of what a Christian life switched on to Jesus and his adventure might look like. He is a compelling not a condemning author. He is passionate and is no armchair theorist.

When I think about how long I will live and how long I will be dead; when I think about this life as a preparation for the next, how do I want to invest whatever I have left?

Cool thought, a sovereign creator God who gives.

Not like the nasty gods of Greek mythology who play with people’s lives, heads and destinies for their own gratification. Not like those gods for whom you must try harder and harder to inherit their favour. Not like philosophical systems that require my self emptying to attain enlightenment.

Nope, a God who loves me, adopts me, through whom I inherit all things to steward and respect. A God who takes a fair bit of getting to know but who actually likes what he sees in me.

I wish I could be towards myself and others like that God is towards me?

The chatty chap who sold me the prawns told me a fascinating story.

The prawn I was buying had been caught, not in WA, but off Townsville in Queensland. They had been snap frozen raw and shipped to China – yep! China! Where the worlds only automatic shelling and deveining machine lives.

Apparently most shelled prawns go to China to their one off machine.

After the China treatment the prawns are shipped back to Townsville, then on to Geraldton in WA where I thought I was buying a prawn caught “just out there” on the lovely, wild deep blue Indian Ocean and sold through the local outlet, literally on the docks!

A prawn about the size of my thumb has a carbon footprint about the size of a house! How ethical is that? How can we know these things? What should we do about it? Can we do anything anyway?

Just goes to show there’s more to a raw prawn than you might think.

Stillpoint is a beach chaplancy that operates on Sunday nights during the Australian summer.

Each season has had key leaders who have made Stillpoint the focus of their ministry for the three months it is on. Dan and Jude Greenfield were that focal point in our 2009/10 season.

I’m wondering who the key focal people might be in 2010/11?

Stillpoint creates so many opportunities to chat to people on the beachfront, discuss the meaning of life, support the security guys and get involved in making a difference.
I’d love to have more time to meet backpackers, be hospitable, run a worship space near the beach etc. But the day to day is more than enough.

Is God saying, “Its run it’s course” or do I need to do something differently?

The reason we think having canoes particularly worthwhile is a little different to what you might think.

The reason we love our canoes is because they enable us to see things differently.

Do you know what Freshwater Bay or the Grenough River or even the Cottesloe pylon looks like from on the water? Not in it but on it? We get an entirely different perspective from our canoes than walking on the bank or stopping at a lookout.

I appreciate this different perspective when it comes to thinking about where I live, who I should vote for, what “normal” really is or what God thinks about things. A different perspective opens my mind, I live in a culture. That culture is far more closed than you or I might think.

As i was writing this post from my canoe i literally bumped in to the fella fishing from the bank. Looked up and there he was, big wide grin, Get a canoe for an entirely different perspective,

It’s overcast and windy and Port Denison isn’t a very “doing” place. It’s interesting how much internal pressure there is to do something!

People come in and out of the beachside caravan park where we are staying; they’re doing something! Is there something wrong with people who don’t want to do something? Is there something wrong with me?

Cheryl and I have decided to be militant about not doing. It is good to dwell, read, drink coffee, toddle down to buy the milk, read, snooze. It is okay! Boy, it takes some discipline though.

Here we are reading in the areas of our own special interests (Ha! Ha!). Actually, Cheryl bought the book I’m reading and it is fascinating. She is reading, what I call, her “fourth love” after Jesus, me, and the kids.

Paula took a bible study on 1 Peter at the conference. She is whitty, funny and makes her point with a lightness and inclusivity that people who love God and the Bible seem able to do.

If you want to read a book on Paul that will open your eyes and mind to the possibilities of faith in Jesus and the liberty of a life of faith give Paula’s book a try.

See http://www.gooder.me.uk/

This is a his and hers book written by a renowned therapist and while balanced is friendly to the males challenge to communicate and express feelings in this most sensitive of areas for many couples.

You don’t need to fear this book. It’s style names the elephants in the room without taking sides and in doing so gives hope for understanding and personal growth.

As I sit here on holidays and read this book I feel heard and understood at the same time. It is also a terrific source for conversation between couples for whom sex has become at best a danger zone, at worst a just don’t go there.

Last Sunday I spoke about the fact that “trouble must come” and shared my personal response to these confusing, often shattering experiences. This week I have really been tested on the convictions I’ve gleaned from the bible and practiced in life.

I’m pleased to report that these three principles have stood firm in this weeks storms.

They are: as a Christian;
•Determine to keep your focus on Jesus – I do this by reading and remembering what be said and did, especially in trouble. I remember and choose not to forget Jesus promise and example.

•Share your experiences and troubles with reliable people who will pray with you and for you consistently. Don’t leave people and situations to chance, prayer pushes people and situations into the path of Gods blessing.

•Relinquish the desperation to control to Jesus – there is a mysterious truth; having given our concerns to Jesus, we must leave them there, if we are to know his transformation in our lives and the lives of our families and circumstances.

These things are simple but hard to do. They are what faith is about and they have brought me closer to God. Talk about it and try it, you may well be surprised what happens to you.