Where does God fit into the workplace? It is a lot easier for me to know that answer now, while sitting in what was a vestry, behind a large and powerful cross, starting each work day with at least 30 minutes of prayer and reflecting on what God is saying to me today! But when I was in another world – the corporate environment in a multi-national IT company -I frequently had to rUn and find Him, wondering how he would fit in! I was trying to explain to Malcolm one day how God showed how much He belonged in my workplace. I pulled out a rather tattered bit of paper with about 200 words on it and said that this is where I run to so often and God reassures me that He IS with me. The words on the paper were not mine or scripture but a written prayer. Being Pentecostal this was a bit confronting for me. However, when I read the words it felt like they were written on my heart and God wanted me to invite Him to join with me in my workplace. The man who gave them to me was a successful academic [continue reading...]
Welcome to Easter at St Philips! If Christmas is about peace on earth and goodwill to all people, what is Easter about? I was reading the account of Jesus’ death in Matthew’s gospel the other day and all manner of things are reported as happening – extra normal things: Earthquake, total solar eclipse, temple curtains collapsing to the ground, ghost- like figures of great sages and saints being seen in and around Jerusalem. If it were a Star Wars movie it would be described as a disturbance in The Force. If Christmas is about the coming of The Prince of Peace, Easter is about that same Prince bringing his kingdom into being. How? Through disturbance! Jesus is the Great Disturber. In the gospel reading for Good Friday Jesus’ accusers argue for the death penalty. On what grounds? That he “stirs up the people”. If you are unwilling to have the living God disturb your status quo you probably won’t like Jesus. You’ll blame the church but it’s Jesus you’ll really have the problem with. Why does Jesus disturb us? The bible is unequivocal: He does it because he loves us. Why do parents stir up their kids to make their [continue reading...]
I wonder what your first response is to the news of a family/all-age-service? “Yay!! – the kids are in!!” OR ”Noooooo – not all-age worship again. Can I sneak out before anyone sees me?” I’m a yay person! Although along with this I certainly admit that worship with all ages together is easy to do badly and hard to do well. BUT this doesn’t mean we should give up in the name of a quiet life! So why should we worship all together, Liz? (“I hear you ask”) Isn’t it better if we are hearing God’s word at an age-appropriate level? Well, yes, if church was only about cerebral learning. But perhaps being at church is actually about being with God and each other, learning how to love God and each other better and then doing it with God’s help. If so, do we do this better by usually being separate or by learning to live together? I’ve been reading a book by Lucy Moore who started ‘Messy Church’ in the UK (an all-age fresh expression of church) and she wonders why it has always been age that has been the separation point in churches. She notes that we [continue reading...]
Did you see the Archbishop’s opinions on marriage this week in the paper? Describing civil weddings as “sentimental fuzz”, he affirmed the central place of God in Christian weddings as an indication that for marriage to work we need help. God is that help for Christians. While the Arch claimed on radio to have been roundly misquoted, in today’s instantly-published-opinion-piece world, opinions are out there irrespective of accuracy or context. And you cannot unfold the power and majesty of 6000 years of the evolution of Christian marriage in a 10-second sound-byte. It’s rather frustrating really! So what about baptism? I’m not sure if there are more or less opinions about baptism? Perhaps we should ask the West to do a piece on what secular Australia is doing by way of rites of initiation/passage – like baptism? My hunch is baptism would suffer from “the sound-byte challenge” much like marriage does. Does it mean the same today as it did in Jesus’ day? What is it about? I was talking to one of our numerous St Pips theology students this week who has an assignment due on the changes in baptism practices up until the Roman Emperor Constantine christianised the world [continue reading...]
Prayer – love it, don’t understand it, want to do it, can’t see the point, wonder if it works, intrigued by it. These are just some of my thoughts and attitudes about this fundamental aspect of my faith. Despite this seemingly ambivalent approach, I have, for many years, longed to have the time to learn more about prayer and to spend more time doing it. After prayerfully and accountably arriving at the decision to change career direction, this year I find myself with a little more time on my hands than before. Actually, that’s not strictly true: what I have a bit more of is both flexibility and the headspace to engage with prayer. Resisting the temptation to read 101 books on prayer and intercession, I came to God and told him that I would like to learn how to pray more effectively and I asked him to lead me and teach me as he saw fit. I was conscious that I could read books, feel encouraged or condemned and actually never move forward in this area. I was also concerned to not limit how God might lead me to pray. This week has been a week of breakthrough. In [continue reading...]