I've been thinking a lot of what heaven is about has been lost by conceiving it as an eschatological event, a place where we go when we die. By focussing solely on this aspect of heaven the world has been seen as a sinking ship and we need to get as many people into the life raft of heaven as possible. Even the view that says that the earth won't be destroyed but rather renewed ends up drifting towards getting people to be resurrected into this new earth rather than viewing the continuation from the present into this new earth. This is all true and good but it is not the whole story and this incomplete view of heaven has shaped evangelism and its message. Heaven begins here and now. Those who will dwell in heaven in the future already dwell in heaven here and now. This is not to say they walk with their heads in the clouds and a happy dazed smile on their faces rather these people dwell in the world and see the pain, hurt, and suffering in the world. This is the church.

Furthermore, a changed and transformed view of sin needs to take place. Sin is a lack of wholeness, a failure to be all that we were meant to be (for a brief synopsis I again refer you to this post). As such focussing solely on liars, thieves, and adulterers (as per the black book) is again incomplete, these do cause a lack of wholeness but are not the only way. A person who is sick or injured may not be whole. A person who is poor may not be whole. This is where the church is to stand a people of the dispossessed, of the broken, the lost, the searching, the lonely, the hurting. We are called to provide for all of these to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, house the homeless (its all about isaiah 58). However, it is not always what is visibly wrong with a person that is their lack of wholeness (that is very clumsily worded). For example, a person who has lost a limb can be more than physically crippled by the injury whereas someone else who has lost the same limb may only be physically crippled. While we can have a hope that in the eschatological kingdom both will be restored to a physical wholeness that is impossible at the moment there is a wholeness that needs to come to the first person, a bringing of heaven into their lives.

I'm not saying that being Christian means being whole and that if you're not then you're not a Christian because that is not true. There is a wholeness that is still to come a completion and perfection which the whole earth is moving towards. However, there is a progression and perfecting that begins here on earth. To which we should all strive.

This looks like a good book

and the reviews are pretty good as well
Atonement I
Atonement II
Atonement III
Atonement IV
Atonement V

For those of us who are sympathetic to the emergent church

What's bad about the emerging church

Strange things and coincidences...

Before I get started I'll clarify a couple of things.
-the Easter Bunny is called Frank :D
-I have finally heard the rest of Steve the American's testimony with regard to getting his girlfriend pregnant at high school (for those of you who weren't there he brought this up pretty much every time he spoke but never said how it finished) his girl friend gave birth to the baby and soon afterwards he got married (to someone else) he and his wife a few years later got custody of his child and his wife legally adopted her. They then had three other children.

Anyway now that that unpleasantness is behind us it always amazes me how G@d can work through the strangest series of coincidences. I was in the meeting on Sunday night at Eastercamp and sitting there getting semi-frustrated as Eastercamp has traditionally been where I have encountered G@d and yet thus far I had not had an encounter with him. So during the worship which followed the sermon I sat there trying to find Him. I kinda felt that I should go out to the communion tent. Once out there I collected communion and sat down in a corner to pray. Shortly someone I know came over and sat down with me saying that they had felt compelled to come and pray with me. After I had taken communion they asked me where I was with G@d. To my embarrassment I responded with a string of Christianese while saying nothing about my actual situation nor why I was actually in the communion tent. I then asked the same question to them. I'm not going to tell their response for that is not my place to tell but I then responded and sought to encourage them. In recent times the times that I have felt closest to G@d has been when I have been speaking of Him and teaching of Him. Anyway a lot of what I ended up saying to their situation was also applicable to my situation and I realised again that it wasn't in the hype and excitement of Eastercamp that G@d is found but rather He prefers to be found in the calm and the quiet. I was reminded of the passage in 1 Kings 19:11-13

"He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

G@d is not found in the hype, the emotion, the excitement of big events and while He uses these things this isn't the way he wishes to relate to us. It is in living every day, in serving Him, and seeking Him constantly.

You are beautiful

Don't play the tortured artist with me,
Or you can pack up all your bags and then leave,
Yea you know what I'm saying and
I'm praying for you to take heed.
It's like your mother was drunk all the time
And your brother turned to a life of crime,
You fear he's lost direction,
You feel he's finally lost his way

[Chorus]
Well look out on the bright side,
Look out to the world
Look out at all the boys and the girls
Just look out on the bright side,
Look out to the world
Look out at all the boys and the girls

Don't play the tortured artist with me,
'Cause it's not all about you now what about me
You can save your breath now son 'cause
I never said that I was going to leave you,
It's like your father, He never came home
And your sister spent her life on the phone
And all the other kids used to give you shit
All the time.

[Chorus]

Maybe I'll dive for treasure
Or maybe I'll ski the world
Or maybe I'll just go live in the hills
Maybe I'll find my pleasure with
Some far off eastern girl
Or maybe I'll still be living in the hills ... Yea

Don't play the tortured artist with me
Don't play the tortured artist with me

It's a fear fear of losing direction,
It's a fear you've lost your way
It's a fear of losing face and that
Someone can replace you
It's a fear of losing direction,
It's a fear you've lost your way
It's a fear of losing face and that
Someone can replace you
'Cause the path is always better
When there's someone in your way
Trying to find their way to escape

[Chorus]

Just look out to the world (repeat)

Artist: The Feelers
Song: The Fear
Album: Playground Battle

found here

Eastercamp some initial thoughts...

-American accents you gotta love them. Americans gotta love them period otherwise they'll bomb you.
-...and my testimony is that in high school I got my girl friend pregnant...
-an American can't connect with Kiwi's as well as a Kiwi can
-NZ is not as much of a celebrity culture as America (ie mentioning 10 celebs names in one introductory sermon is not the best way to get the kids attention)
-Anthony Watts is awesome
-my Youth Group kids are awesome (they brought up many of my criticisms of the American's sermon without any prompting from me)
-WestYouth (and Westchurch) is probably one of the most fiercely competitive Youth Groups at Easter Camp
-Ilam Baptist's kids are amusing and cool (some of the leaders aren't half bad either)
-I aren't as opposed to Greg Laurie as I was
-God often uses strange things and coincidences to give us a bit of a kick in our teeth now and again

Feel free to comment or question anything I have written here and I might take time to explain.

I am...

content. Life is good at the moment. Everything, although not where I would like it to be, is in a good place at the moment and should remain there (barring exceptional circumstances).

Don't worry, that last post was nothing to do with me in myself or my life situation.

What's fucked up and everything is fine

A History of Violence

To what extent should someone's past be buried and should they be allowed to create a new life for themselves?

I've been pondering this question a lot recently due to both the Louise Nichols case and the handing out of suppressed evidence after a jury of their peers had found the accused not guilty. Their lives have already been destroyed, they have admitted that they are not proud of what they did but should they not then be allowed to try to start a new life for themselves?

What about paedophiles who have done the time and have been allowed to reenter society. To what extent do they have a right to privacy and to try and become a functioning member of society and to what extent do the public have a right to be aware that someone who in the past has committed this heinous deed is living in proximity to their children?

How much can we put our past behind us and can we ever be allowed to escape the ghosts of our pasts?

The movie a History of Violence is not a movie for the weak of stomach with graphic displays of short powerful violence and horrific shots of the damage done (even by my standards). It also has sex scenes and full frontal nudity. I am undecided as to whether the sex and nudity is gratuitous or whether it does serve a worthwhile plot purpose. Anyway this whole movie is in essence about this putting the ghosts of the past to rest. Stop now if you are considering seeing this movie as I will give away plot details.

Joey Cusak is a notorious gangster from Philedelphia who decides to put his past behind him and becomes Tom Stall a diner owner in a small midwest town. He is living the American dream with a beautiful wife, geeky loner son, and gorgeous daughter, he is happy and content. At least until a couple of hardened murderers break into his diner and attempt to kill one of the waitresses. In a few brief seconds he becomes Joey again and ruthlessly dispatches both men. This lands him in the media spotlight as a reluctant hero. This in turn lands him in hot water as gangsters from Philly turn up after recognising Joey's face on tv and come to visit. When they try to take him back to Philly with them he goes Joey on them and three mobsters are dead.

It is then that Richie Cusak his older brother comes calling for him and Joey is off to Philly to try and make things right with his brother and so return to his quiet life. The only way that Tom can make it right though is to die something he isn't ready to do quite so in short order another four mobsters and his brother are dead.

All this time there are tensions at home with his beautiful wife, Edie, as she finds out that her beloved husband is in fact a hardened killer who has lied to her for their whole marriage. She rejects him and is furious and upset. The movie is finished with Tom returning home to a mixed greeting it is left to the audience to decide whether or not Edie will accept him back. It comes down to your view of love whether or not the love exhibited at the beginning of the movie is true and therefore will survive this major upheaval given time. Or whether this love is gone and the damage done will cause an irrepairable rift.

As a metaphor this movie is brilliant. The gangsters representing him coming to terms with his past and dealing with it rather than ignoring it. After he has killed his brother he goes down to the lake and cleanses himself. Washing himself clean of the past he is now ready to face the future as a new man. The past will always be with him but it can never come back to haunt or trouble him. He returns and is welcomed back for the man he is not for the man he was. Things will never return to the way they were but given time things will return to normalcy.

On the other hand taken literally this is very violent movie with many graphic scenes of the aftermath.

Its funny when non-Christians teach us more about Christianity than the church. Well, maybe that is a slight exaggeration but not by much.

I was talking to one of supervisers who has just got back to work from a year's maternity leave and we were discussing one of the swim tutor's. My superviser Lorna was saying how she hated how lifeguards always made fun of this swim tutor for her weight. This swim tutor, Lorna, pointed out was one of the most active people that she knew, this swim tutor is in the pool every day giving kids lessons and most mornings to swim a few lengths. She eats healthy, she cannot help her weight, and yet is so easy for me to ridicule her for her weight. God knows I'm far from perfect and my weight is the least of my issues but it is so easy to ridicule and put down than to compliment and build up. In the same way it is so easy to gripe and complain about fellow employees behind their backs rather than to defend them to others. This is not what Jesus was talking about when he said Love your neighbour as yourself. I think Christianity should be loving people where they are and for who they are not what they should be and who Iwould like them to be. I can hope and encourage them towards self-improvement. But thats just it it is self-improvement not improvement into the way that I think that they should be.

I like

The answer comes down to how we envision the perfect world. "I suspect that any person of faith dreams of a street of perfection running through a neighborhood of perpetual bliss, in a land of plenty and a world of peace." But our American dream is punctured again and again by realities of homelessness, hunger, and war. "Despite our accomplishments we're nowhere near to ending hunger, heartache, disease, or the dirty soil and polluted waters of our nation or our planet."

What can tradition offer in response to these challenges? "Biblical humanism," a derivative of Martin Buber's philosophy. "Our Bible practically opens with a foretaste of utopia" -- Shabbat. After six days of labor, we do as God did, and cease work for a day, we and our entire households, including those who work for us and even the beasts that serve us. "We meditate on God's labor, and on ours; how we work, and still can refresh ourselves." And we recall the Exodus from Egypt and flight to freedom in the freedom we savor one day of each week.

But the Bible doesn't stop there; it moves us from one day in seven, to one year in seven. "Every seventh year the land lies fallow...We don't plant, and we don't harvest. The hungry and poor, the widow and orphan come to the field to gather what grows there on its own. Indentured servants go free." And then there's the Yovel, the Jubilee, in the 50th year: all land returns to its original owner. This is the Biblical utopian vision, the Torah's dream of a perfect society. "The rich and poor are spared the drudgery of work. Indentured servants go free. Nature regenerates the land. What you own comes back to you. All in a cycle of social, economic, political, ecological harmony in the ultimate theological order. Like God, we are spared the worry and exertion of order. Like God, we see every human being as equal and free."

Found at the Velveteen Rabbi.

Bwahahahaha

You Are 58% Evil

You are evil, but you haven't yet mastered the dark side. Fear not though - you are on your way to world domination.

How Evil Are You?

Awesome, eh?

O child of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O child of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O child of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it.

Obviously, to my redneck family, homosexuality is both contagious and caused by excessive literacy.