random thoughts....

Steve Taylor is sick at the moment so - if your talking with the big fella please drop a line in his behalf.
In my world things are up and down at the moment as i try to find God's direction.
The issue is that I have been approached by a church to come and pastor them, they are a wonderful bunch of people and one that it would be in many ways a pleasure to serve.
However it's in a city that I have issues over living in, and in all honesty my family are certainly not keen in living in.
I guess it has struck me how others can soemtimes stand in the way of what I would like God to do with me. A friend just reminded me this afternoon that people like these are a gift from God. While that seems weird, the others - in this case my family do push me back into the arms of a God who I have come to love more dearly over the past few weeks. My desire is to serve him, and serve him I will and the first place of service is in my own home.
I guess i am still seeking him in regards to this position, and i'd appreciate your prayers in doing that, i realise that there are quite a few people who read this and do not leave comments, but your prayer would be appreciated...

A wedding and the Da Vinci Code

I took a wedding on Satuday down in Christchurch at the newly built Ark chapel Gethsemase gardens.
Above the altar stage area is a take of of Da Vinci's last supper. Straight after the service agut cam up to me firing a lot of questions about whether it was Mary stood next to Jesus. but the wierd thing is he said if it was then it couldn't have been a virgin birth???? Needless to say I had a lot of explaining to do about if it was Mary then it was Mary Magdelane, to which he said who was she... well she was 'once' a prostitute, while the Church i think views that as a redemptive relationship, this guy fed a diet of sleaze thought it was a bit dodgy....

In the end it was a great open ended discussion, one of those moment that I cherish, but it struck me how much either the Church has confused the world, or the world is confused about the Church. Either way i suspect that in the post Christian world we cannot asume too much.

Role on May when the Da Vinci code is released at the Cinema... after Saturdays conversation i think it may be quite interesting...

Help I'm an Overstretched Volunteer Youth Worker

When you walk....

Last week a young guy that my wife had been working with very closely dies of cancer, it's an illness he has been fighting for almost 18 months. His funeral was on monday and was attended by over 40o people, and what a testimony he gave. Richard was 23 part of a great family, a karaoke singer, all round nice guy and a christian. While it was often hard to know where Richard was with God, the sicker he got the closer he came, and that became evident to everyone. I've been to a few funerals but this was by far the most powerful.
As we walked in the Cure, friday i'm in love was playing - a favourite karoke tune...
The service was introduced as a celerbration which seems quite odd at the time but as the ervice progressed we certainly had heaps to celerbrate.
A high light for me was the photo montage that Richard put together (actualy he put most of the service together in his last few weeks). His life story in photo's - a smile on his phone almost permanantly, with the Elvis track walk on playing in the background. I guess that kind of reflected Richard's humour, a real tear jerker song, but also a great kaaroke number. To the last Richard was having a bit of fun, though he was only 23 he lived life to the full, and was a peacemaker - and a blessing to all who got to know him.
I guess it will be a while before we see him again, but there is an oldish painting The Boulevard of Broken Dreams that comes to mind when I think of Richard. There is Elvis, James Dean, and others sitting around talking, the difference is that in my vision of it Richard is there belting out another Karaoke tune, happy because he is with out pain and because he is with his Lord...

A collage of holiday snaps...

Treaty....

I was chatting with a guy from America the other day about Christianity and nationalism, and i commented that here in NZ they are in any way synoymous with each other. I relayed the story of how when I was at seminary one of the students insisted on singing the national anthem as part of a chapel, and was almost hung, drawn and quartered as a result.
Not contect with that i have been doing some thinking why that is the case and i can only conclude that a huge part of the low national pride is down to the colonial origins of our country and the uncomfortable feelings that many have about them. This has been highlighted of late with the call for the government to honour the treaty not just by radical maori but by everyday 'regular' folk too.
I wonder what this country would be like if we took that seriously???
I suspect that crime would be down, our prisons would probably not be overcrowded, a sense of national pride may well improve the brain drain and boost the economy. I think too that a clearer sense of identity would appear throughtout the cultures here, We live in a beautiful place but we seem to be surrounded by a lot of ignorance and back bitting over these issues. I am of the opinion that to just drop the treaty as has been suggested and make us all one would be self destructive.
on other news in 2004 i attended the BIG E a conference in Auckland that was looking at the issues of culture - it was great (see web site) http://www.youthministry.org.nz/?sid=5
well the video and book have been released from there and i would like to recomend it, though I do hope the video does not include our SingStar sessions from the evenings ....

available from

Jacky Sewell

3/89 Michael's Ave

Ellerslie

Auckland

cost - Book $20, DVD $45 or both for $60

P&P $5 in NZ, $10 Aust and Sth Pacific, $20 rest of the world

kopi luwak

I am speaking at a church in Auckland this Sunday on transforamtion in the Kingdom of God, and i came a across a brilliant illustration of How God can work with us, making us into His People. The text is about Jesus's call to the fishermen, who left their nets and went.... but I read about this image that I am going to use in Leonard Sweet's Soul Salsa book.
Anyway for those who are interested it's all about a humble coffe bean and a cat that makes it

"Kopi" is the Indonesian word for coffee and the "Luwak" is the indigenous animal who plays an "active" role in the harvesting of the raw coffee cherries. The Luwak feasts on ripe, red coffee cherries seeking out the sweet taste of the cherry itself, wanting little to do with the parchment of the coffee. Once the Luwak eats the cherry, the parchment covered coffee beans are passed out of the Luwak, with the parchment cover still protecting the green coffee beans.The local natives gather up the limited amount of the Luwak processed parchment coffee, remove the parchment shell, and ultimately ship it to the coffee broker.Kopi Luwak has a very unique and distinguishable roasting smell and taste... like no other coffee. http://www.thecoffeecritic.com/fusion3/html/kopi.shtml

Original image can be found on http://www.ravensbrew.com/NewFiles/kopiluwak.html

More evidence.....

Love this dialogue from the Jaynestown episode of Firefly - think i might use it next month when I am preaching on youth and the Church....
[Shepherd Book prepares a meal as he absentmindedly addresses River.]
Book: What are we up to, sweetheart?
River: Fixing your Bible.
Book: I, um… What?
[Pan over to River, who works on a book with pens, brushes, and loose pages.]
River: Bible's broken. Contradictions, false logistics… doesn't make sense.
. . .
River: Noah's Ark is a problem.
Book: Really?
River: We'll have to call it "early quantum state phenomenon". Only way to fit 5,000 species of mammals on the same boat.
. . .
Book: River, you don't… fix the Bible.
River: It's broken. It doesn't make sense.
Book: It's not about… making sense. It's about believing in something. And letting that belief be real enough to change your life. It's about faith. You don't fix faith, River. It fixes you.

Am I turning into a geek

One thing i have always prided myself on is that I am not a geek. But my behaviour of late makes me think that might be changing
evidence 1 - I sat through almost an hour long video of a Q and A session with Josh Wheldon - creater of Serenity, Firefly, Buffy etc....
evidence 2 - I own a copy of the firefly box set.
evidence 3 - I have developed an obsession with Lost, not only watching the TV series but contemplating buying the box set, and visiting soem of the many fan sites, reading the forums and comming together with some theories of what is actualy happening, beyond the "their dead and living in purgatory". in future posts I may put across some of my thoughts.
evidence 4 - I blog, which is kind a of a geeky thing to do.......
evidence 5 - see attached picture

So i have concluded i am either a geek or bored.....
comments on this behaviour would be appreciated.
on other not so geeky news i have jsut founf out that Nelson may not be hosting any of the new revamped Tasman rugby club games - how suck is that...

Islam Vs freedom of speech

I don't often read the letters section of the paper but this morning I did and it struck me how much the events over freedom of speech and the response of some Muslims Afghanistan and the Lebanon have really touched a nerve. I agree with many that the media overstepping a line in printing those pictures, because people had the right to be informed about what all the fuss was about. The media claim to be morally neutral in this - they merely report what they see - or so they claim. But who really believes that, since when have the media been morally neutral??? I think they are far more tainted by their own opinions then they would ever admit. So I think they were wrong - it was morally wrong to publish the pictures... However the way that some people from the Muslim world (and it certainly is not all) have responded just reinforces the stereotypes and the predjudice about Islam. As one person commented "you cannot have one rule about censorship - no images of the prophet while at the same time undermining publicly others belief systems - homosexuals should be stoned."
These are perilous times, as worlds meet worlds, but what of the Christian response. Well I heard one suggestion that when the media treats Jesus in the same manner maybe we should riot too. That kid of talk scares me, not because I am unafraid of standing up for what I believe in but because I hear that in one ear and the voice of Jesus in the others saying turn the other
As offensive as the media can be, I think turning the other cheek is a far better response, but that does not mean we have to be quiet - just that our course of action should involve grace.

We need to pray for the media, because with much power comes much responsibility and clearly the actions of the last few weeks have been irresponsible

words that make you go hmmmmmmmm

I opened a letter this morning from a well meaning Christian organisation as I scanned the page one thing jumped out and hit me.... Over use of the word AWESOME what a horrible christianese word that is, I would out it on a par with Nice.
Why do people insist on desribing what they are doing as AWESOME when most of the stuff is average at best.
I am going to start a church movement and average will be our catch phrase. we will have average meetings with average attendances and the worship will be absolutelty average.

I am sick of things being described as AWESOME when they are in fact AVERAGE at best.
come on people lets get a bit of honesty into our lives, lets tell people what we really are AVERAGE

Mark Driscoll vs Brian McClaren

Just found out that MArk Driscoll has enetered the world of bloggin and seems to have done so with quite a bang.
in a recent response to Brian Mclaren and his thoughts or lack of on Homosexuality
Driscoll has said

"Well, it seems that Brian McLaren and the Emergent crowd are emerging into homo-evangelicals......
And on January 23rd McLaren wrote an article for Leadership that is posted on this blog. In it he argues that because the religious right is mean to gays we should not make any decision on the gay issue for 5-10 years.
As the pastor of a church of nearly 5000 in one of America’s least churched cities filled with young horny people this really bummed me out. Just this week a young man who claims to be a Christian and knows his Bible pretty well asked if he could have anal sex with lots of young men because he liked the orgasms. Had I known McLaren was issuing a Brokeback injunction I would have scheduled an appointment with him somewhere between 2011-2016."

very strong words, but i kind of like them
though the pastoral issues involved are huge, i think it's very easy for us to sit back and do nothing. love or hate Driscoll ( and i find myself quite a fan) he has made a judgement call and his church seems to be doing some good stuff.

Then again maybe i just appreciate the blunt Irishness of the guy, soemthing that I think the Church needs a bit more of to counterbalance the namby pambyness that some of the merging conversations seem to fall into way to often.

I like Brian McLaren a lot, but I need a good dose of Mark Driscoll too

you can find Mark's blog on
http://theresurgence.com/blog/2

Dreamers of the Day

Love this quote;
'This, therefore, is a faded dream of the time when I went down into the dust and noise of the Eastern market-place, and with my brain and muscles, with sweat and constant thinking, made others see my visions coming true. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible.'
T. E. Lawrence(Lawrence of Arabia)

A prayer for Friday morning I think,
Lord make me a dreamer of the day like our Father, Abraham,
who went to a land he did not know
following a God who his Fathers did not know,
I place my trust in that God
and may You guide me into this unknown future also.
AMEN

legacy of youth work

It has always been part of my personal mission statement (ah yes i have one of them) that I would rather be rembered for who I have influenced than what I have done or even who i am.
Well over the past few weeks I have ran into quite a few people that I have had some influence over - and it makes you feel good to know that God has used you to make a difference in someones life.....
I can die a happy man..... well at least sleep soundly at night

Shock horror report from the US

Last year I purcahsed a copy of a report Soul Searching, it was on religion in America, Christian Smith one of the writers of the report was a speaker at the Seattle Pacific University’s Day of Common Learning and Church Leaders Forum on October 19, 2005. Smith based this troubling assertion on the findings of the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR), the largest-ever study of the religious beliefs of American teenagers, which he directed.

A five-year project begun in 2001, the NSYR interviewed 3,370 randomly chosen teenagers, ages 13 to 17, in 45 states. The initial findings, chronicled in Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, uncovered a disturbing state of affairs: The vast majority of America’s teenagers — most of whom call themselves Christians — believe in and practice a religion that bears little resemblance to Christianity...... (want to read more then click on the link below)
http://www.spu.edu/depts/uc/response/winter2k6/features/generation.asp

Saints and Soldiers

Tuesday is cheap video night at our local shop, and normaly ends with me and Maureen sitting around watching a trashy movie that was - 'cheap'. Last night we came across a little gem
Saints and Soldiers.
A WW2 movie set jsut prior to the Battle of the bulge, while the movie was not a huge cinema hit it certainly has won some critical praise and quite frankly is one of the better movies i have seen for along time.
The main character Deacon is a shell shocked soldier who has seen too much and done too much. He's also a Christian, trying to come to terms with his faith in an enviroment of death,
In one of the best scenes in the movie he is chatting with a medic about life after death, the medic a devout athesit comes to the opposite conclusions to Deacon based on the same evidecne. Though the sub plot is war the main plot is about faith - demonstrated through Deacon and passed on to the medic.

see the trailer at
http://www.saintsandsoldiers.com/