Thoughts from the Desk

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GALLERY PHOTOS

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Yesterday we enjoyed a special church family moment when we saw Garry Parker set apart for accredited ministry as a pastor among the Baptist Churches of South Australia.  It was a great mixture of formal and family. Many visitors and regulars gathered around Garry and Andrea and committed them to God in prayer, after which they served us with the Lord’s Supper.  It was fun, powerful, glorifying to God and satisfying to see.  Garry is the third pastor in my time to have been trained and developed among us, with Jenny (making four) lining up for ordination in 2011!

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Last night four men gathered to trial a potential new idea: Talk4Men.

We spent two hours telling honest stories about our life, followed by dinner at a cafe together.
It was good to see men sharing with each other, followed by prayer.
There was honesty, affirmation and openness.
We plan to run these as one off events. No need to commit more than two hours and a meal!

Want to get yourself in a better place, more connected with men?
Comment here (Log in first)
Or drop me an email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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Here’s a chuckle…
GodTube Link

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Here’s a typical Sunday morning… click here.

We’re doing our best to NOT be that predictable, but to truly engage with God.  The trouble is that a culture finds it difficult to critique itself, so we may need to poke a little fun at ourselves also.
It’s tempting to create a show because it feels good and makes a church feel good about itself, but the show nature of worship is not to be shunned or pursued.  In fact it’s a non-issue.  The Bible is largely unconcerned with worship style, song choices or engaging speaking. (Paul had someone fall asleep and fall out of a window when he was speaking Ac 20:9).  The main thing that the Bible is concerned about is that the worship is genuine.  “True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” (Jn 4:24).  In that understanding, true worship can happen with hymns, choruses, arms in the air, flag waving or arms crossed.  May we all hunger after true worship.

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In Jeremiah 7, Jeremiah exposes the crazy thoughts of the people that made them think they were safe if they just said, “The temple is the Lord’s, the temple is the Lord’s, the temple is the Lord’s!”

They then went on to live their lives exactly as if God didn’t exist!  There are no verbal formulas that can save them (or us!), yet they tried. It was denial in the fullest.
Maybe we don’t say things three times to feel safe, but do we sing them?  What is God’s idea of godliness anyway? Jer 7 gives a slightly different picture from what we expect.
Check it out, and come and hear more about it this Sunday.

Also:
The Bi90ten challenge is here!  It starts on Wednesday 5 May.  A whole group of us are going to have a crack at reading the Bible right through in 90 days.
I’ve done it two years in a row now and really can’t wait to get it started.
It’s the 3 months of the year when I feel the most disciplined in my life.
• PLUS: The sense of achievement is awesome.
• PLUS PLUS: I learn so much about the big picture in the Bible.
• PLUS PLUS PLUS: I feel close to God doing this.

Email here to register: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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Most people know what their job is, but do you know your vocation? This Sunday we talk about rising to the life that we know deep down that God is calling us to.  A life that we won’t wish we could have changed when we’re 90.  Is the opposite of risk comfort? Or maybe it’s fear.  Be there Sunday 10am.

On another note, this came through my email today:
“This is something I have found to be true without exception: that when we, any of us, focus on things in our lives that are passing away, we get scared, we get anxious, we get depressed, we lose hope; and when we focus on things that are being birthed and are coming newly into creation, we get excited, we get imaginative, we get optimistic, we feel drawn closer to one another, we feel as if we have meaning and purpose in this life, and we have joy…we are given change as an ingredient in life. We can be frightened and anxious and resistant to it or we can embrace it as a tool to transform us” (Bishop Jim Kelsey, 1952-2007).

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Here are some photos of the dedication of the new Alyawarr Mini-Bible at Irrultja last weekend.  David Blackman of SIL is supported by Parkside Baptist, so in that sense this is the kingdom work of our church community!

Photos

I like the concept of the flying Bible Man! (Bible Society’s Phil Zamagias) Here’s his report:
The Alyawarr Mini-Bible is in the hands of Alyawarr-speaking Christians after a small ceremony in Central Australia last Sunday.
The Flying BibleMan joined an enthusiastic group of travellers from Wycliffe’s ‘Kangaroo Ground’ base who made the journey to Alice Springs in a Coaster bus.
From Alice they ventured north, turning off the Stuart Highway and bouncing along some 300kms of dirt road before abandoning the bus, crossing the river on foot and then hitching a ride to Irrultja community by 4WD vehicle.
A communion service preceded the dedication. The moment that everyone was there for came around soon enough and the Bible was read in Alyawarr.
Phil gave a short speech commending the translators for their patient and painstaking work on behalf of the Bible Society in Australia.
The new Bible has been made available by the Bible Society at a subsidised price of just AU$18.

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When I visited Canberra, I was struck by the planning of the city and its lines. On the Open Day of Parliament House, I stood outside the PM’s office and could see right through Parliament House, out over the old Parliament House, across the lake, following the lines right to the War Memorial.  From the air you can see the geometrical layout of the Parliamentary Triangle.  Walter Burley Griffin designed the city so that all the important parts were lined up.
From Wikipedia: The apices of the triangle are Parliament House, the seat of government; the Defence Head Quarters at Russell; and City Hill, representing the civilian part of Canberra. Griffin planned the city around two axes which converge in the center of the Parliamentary Triangle. The land axis connects Mount Ainslie, Capital Hill and Red Hill and extends off towards Mount Bimberi the Australian Capital Territory’s highest mountain. The water axis runs at right angles to the land axis along the length of Lake Burley Griffin.

An amazing feat of design, no doubt!

Imagine now Jerusalem. What if all the significant points of interest where events happened lined up in similar ways. Not planned by a town planner, but having come to pass over thousands of years.  Would that point to God, the only ‘planner’ that could have made that happen?
On Sunday we get out our maps and Google Earth and check out the lie of the land…

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This is from Da Jesus Book (Hawaii Pidgin Bible) - how good does this sound!!!

Da Boss Above, he take care me,
  Jalike da sheep farma take care his sheeps.
  He goin give me everyting I need.
He let me lie down wea da sweet an soft grass stay.
  He lead me by da water wea I can rest.
He give me new kine life.
  He lead me in da road dat stay right,
  Cuz I his guy.

Amen!!
Thanks to Leonie for this one!

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