Restarts

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." Isaiah 43:18-19

I like New Year's resolutions. The remind me of new beginnings. They help me remember that no matter how hard or how bad things may have gotten, there is an opportunity to start afresh and recapture the joy and hope that has laid dormant. Perhaps dormant through some pretty difficult times.

I have had a pretty hard year in 2015. Partly through my doing, partly through circumstances beyond my control. Today is a new beginning, but it would be pretty silly if it was just today. Every day is a new beginning, an opportunity to get right what I got wrong yesterday and to learn and grow.

My prayer today is to have a happy new year, but tomorrow will be a new day and I pray that too will  be an opportunity to start afresh with the learnings of today.

Time to think

I wonder if the whole process of blogging was a constructive one for me as it gave me the tools to think out loud in a public environment.

I also wonder if it is something I, personally for my own growth, need to pick up again?

Wednesday July 29, 11:15 AM

Anger after Bible defaced in British gallery

Christians voiced anger and dismay on Tuesday (local time) after a Bible, which was part of an exhibition inviting viewers to add their reflections, was defaced with offensive, foul-mouthed scrawl.

Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art has decided to put the Bible in a glass case after the exhibit - called Untitled 2009 and part of a show entitled Made In God's Image - was vandalised.

Artist Jane Clarke, a minister at the Metropolitan Community Church, asked visitors to annotate the Bible with stories and reflections, as a way of making it more inclusive.

But visitors to the gallery took the invitation a bit further than she had anticipated.

"This is all sexist pish, so disregard it all," wrote one person, while another described the Bible as "the biggest lie in human history". A third wrote: "Mick Jagger and David Bowie belong in here."

On the first page of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, someone had written: "I am Bi, Female and Proud. I want no god who is disappointed in this."

Clarke said: "I had hoped that people would show respect for the Bible, for Christianity and indeed for the Gallery of Modern Art. I am saddened that some people have chosen to write offensive messages.

"Writing our names in the margins of a Bible was to show how we have been marginalised by many Christian churches, and also our desire to be included in God's love.

"As a young Christian, I was encouraged by my church to write my own insights in the margins of the Bible I used for my daily devotions - this was an extension of that idea."

On Tuesday, over 100 people gathered outside the gallery to protest at what they said was vandalism.

Letitia Reid, a housewife from Glasgow, said the Bible should not be desecrated.

"As a Christian I am offended by this because Christians hold the Bible to be sacred. For it to be publicly defiled in this way is very offensive," she said.

- AFP

"Why are so many people leaving City New Life...?"

The question I was asked on Sunday morning as I was talking to an old friend in a shop in town.

"Why are so many people leaving City New Life...?"

I was shoe shopping with Kate, (Kate was actually shopping, I was just tagging along...) the girl behind the counter was asking the question because she had seen so many people leave Majestic over the years and was curious to what I thought.

I shared that possibly one of the reasons I believed people were leaving Majestic was because the church's ethos and vision was not compatible with that which Jesus shared during his ministry 2000 years ago.

She also shared that because she worked in a quite fashionable shoe shop, she was able to purchase shoes for half the retail value, meaning she had over 40 pairs of shoes. Most of which would have been over $100 each.

I thought about this question a little more when I got home, and I wondered how she would have felt if I challenged her on how many shoes she owned and could she justify them in the face of the thousands of local children who go to school each day without breakfast and lunches. (And even shoes...)

The reason I thought that question was probably a challenging one was because in an Image and Luxury styled church, sacrificing some of the more pleasurable things in life for the needs of the poor and vulnerable, to meet real and practical needs was not a high priority. The issue of social justice was further down the priority list that the attraction and promises and indulgences offered from the core values of the church itself.

Challenge:

How do I stop myself falling into the same trap?
How do I lead NABC away from the same trap?

Blaa blaa blaa...

First post in 3 months... What did you expect...

There! How Was That?

There! How Was That?

A couple of F-15’s are escorting a C-130 Hercules, and their pilots are chatting with the pilot of the transport to pass the time. Talk comes around to the relative merits of their respective aircraft. The fighter pilots contend that their airplanes were better because of their superior speed, maneuverability, weaponry, and so forth, and pointed out the Hercules deficiencies in these areas. After taking this for a while, the C-130 pilot says, "Oh yeah? Well, I can do a few things in this old girl that you’d only dream about." Naturally, the fighter pilots challenge him to demonstrate. "Just watch," comes the quick retort. And so they watch. But all they see is that C-130 continue to fly straight and level…After several minutes the Hercules pilot comes back on the air, "There! How was that?" The fighter pilots reply, "What are you talking about? What did you do?" And the Hercules pilot replies, "Well, I got up, stretched my legs, and got a cup of coffee."

Similarly, many of us don’t really recognize what God has done in the Easter story. We’ve got hi-tech toys, with great graphics and things that the generations before us could only dream of. And the simple 2,000-year-old Easter story comes along, and it feels like a great old C-130 Hercules. We figure, "It’s old and so what can it do?" We search the Internet, and we think we’ve got Christianity nailed down. I mean look at the colossal failures of Christians through the centuries, and they are numerous. But through the centuries and even with modern hi-tech sophistication and our evolved sensibilities, no one can explain away the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The resurrection of Christ comes to us, sneaking into our consciousness, and somehow we hear a voice in that Easter story: "There! How was that?"

Not too sure about this???

Technically, the cat is licking her... wait, no... that's not right...?

Hilarious Pictures...

Found these two pictures priceless!