Rivett

Reflective lenses

2009-12-29T23:00:00.003+10:30

I have had to purchase my first ever pair of glasses. I am not super excited about the prospect of wearing glasses, but I am fortunate that they are only reading glasses and the most likely place for me to lose them is somewhere near my book. (note to self; read really big bright coloured books from now on!)

It is funny what goes through your mind when you are trying to choose a pair of glasses. It is difficult to find a pair that you like for a number of reasons. The biggest reason for me was vanity. I am not used to seeing myself in glasses and no matter what ones I tried on they did not suit my sense of fashion or my sense of myself. I am not normally particularly choosy when it comes to fashion, if it is comfortable for me to wear and I like the style then I can generally be in and out of a store in 10 minutes and be comfortable with what I purchased, but not with glasses.

Fortunately I waited until my wife could come with me to choose a pair and so, given she was the most likely one to have to look at me in them, she made her choice.

The more I thought about the issue of wearing glasses the fashion vanity issue faded away and I was faced with a vanity that is far more powerful than a label. If I wear glasses, I am admitting a weakness. I do not like to admit that I have a weakness. I have spent most of my life being physically, mentally and emotionally assured, can play almost all sports at a reasonable level, can understand things quickly and can deal with everything I have had thrown at me to this point in my life.

I guess my humanity frightens me.

Harden up Aussie Princesses!

2009-06-03T14:03:00.001+09:30

Reading the newspaper lately you can easily believe that Australia is now the softest nation in the world.

Every article relating to swine flu (particularly in the Herald Sun) contains a ridiculous amount of people complaining that they cannot access Tamiflu. Closer reading of the articles shows most people complaining seem to be about 25-35 and should be among the healthiest people in our nation.

I can't help but feel that we have bought this upon ourselves. We use antibiotics, antibacterial and anti everything, not allowing our bodies to get used to fighting things for themselves. No it seems that I, as a healthy 30 something can demand Tamiflu because I have a cold! I understand if you are in serious risk of dying, but come on!

Harden up Australia! Deal with this by eating right, sleeping right, exercising right. Take responsibility for your own health!

The Lord's prayer

2009-03-05T09:25:00.001+10:30

THE LORD'S PRAYER AS PERHAPS HE'D SAY IT ON 8 MARCH 2009

*Our Mother who is within us
We celebrate your many names
Your wisdom come
Your will be done
Unfolding from the depths within us
Each day you give us all that we need
You remind us of our limits
And we let go
You support us in our power
And we act with courage
For you are the dwelling place within us
The empowerment around us
And the celebration among us
Now and forever. Amen

May the blessings of the God of Sarah and Abraham,the blessings of the Son,born of mother Mary and the blessings of the Holy Spirit, who broods over us,as a mother over her children, be showered upon us all,particularly on the women of the world,now and for ever more. Amen
(World Student Christian Federation-Asian Pacific region Liturgy for IWD March 8 2009
http://www.ascm.org.au/files/liturgy_wscfiwd2009.pdf/ )

Kneecaps

2009-02-25T13:37:00.003+10:30

If I get a thriving sexual thrill from lighting bushfires perhaps I should surrender my bits and pieces for the betterment of society!
It goes against my spiritual instincts to love and nurture people back to a place of wholeness, but this completely selfish action brings out my dark side.
Lighting fires is not the same as killing one person or a group of people that you, in some sick way, believe deserve it. Fire does not take into account guilt or innocence, age or ability. Fire kills people regardless of who they are. Once you light fire you have unleashed an uncontrollable killing power.
In whatever way it happens, I hope justice is done.

Helpless Irony

2009-02-10T12:27:00.000+10:30

I have been trying to find a way we, as a church, can somehow assist people affected by the fires. Unfortunately it is not as easy as I had hoped.

Blood banks are saying they have enough blood for the foreseeable future, we have heaps of furniture at the Church waiting for the fete in march, but people who lost their furniture lost their homes. We have kitchen stuff, crockery, cutlery, everything you need to fill your house. But there are no houses to fill. Ironic.

We do have clothes though. However, I cannot find a place that is taking clothing at the moment. All people really need is the one thing we don't have much of, money.

Bugger.

Pete

Motoring Along

2008-06-05T12:00:00.000+09:30

I have just scored myself another part-time gig. I will be lecturing in anatomy and physiology at the training institution I studied at last year. This will enable me to get credits towards a teaching degree as well as completing my Diploma in Fitness.

The biggest issue at the moment though is time. Am I filling my time up with jobs in order to purely make more money? Maybe. Am I doing this so that Maryann will be able to relax and work when she chooses to? Hopefully. Am I doing this because the wonderful journey I am on requires me to give something back to the universe? Mmmm.

I think my biggest problem at the moment is that I am trying to live up to perceived expectations of people close to me.

I know we cannot afford a house at the moment, particularly not one that affords us the ability to walk to work and live so close to what we value. So why do I worry about it? We am close to not having a holiday because I am worried about saving money. I am taking on a new job, sacrificing time with Maryann so we can have more money and more security which in turn may make our relationship less secure!

I will love this new job, I will manage my time well and we will be better for it......... eventually.

Didn't really work

2007-12-15T08:46:00.000+10:30

My great plan to take a sabbath didn't really work.

I have just finished my remedial massage diploma. This meant that for the last 8 months I have had 2 days off a month, unless i had to work one of those days. I finished the schooling year with 3 camps in 3 weeks and they ran across 2 weekends. Now, on my second day off of the month I am preparing a service for tomorrow.

As sit to write the sermon I realise that I have begun the process with very little emotional energy, so I wasted time by posting on some Churches of Christ blogs and reading some updates in journals......... now I am energised! This is what I have been missing for the last couple of months! I have been too busy, most of the busyness I caused myself, too sit and reflect. IDIOT!

I will endevour to do this more over summer. I have january off so will try to make time. WOOT!

Can't wait!

2007-08-09T13:27:00.000+09:30

I have come to a realisation lately. I get excited at the prospect of watching NBA games this season! Very, very excited! It is almost inappropriately excited.

It is the prospect of spending two hours sitting on the couch being consumed by something so much that I can neglect the busyness that I find myself in.

I was reminded again the other day that unless I claim a sabbath, I will struggle to serve God in my full capacity.

Lately I have been slightly more aggressive, tired and short tempered, mainly because I find myself with less and less emotional space. I either have people wanting something from me, homework to be done of projects to try and organise, and it is getting a little too much.

I have decided that I will start to take regular sabbath days. Maybe once a month, but before I need it. I guess I will call it a religious holiday, I am religious and I need a holiday!

Tickle me EMO

2007-08-06T22:42:00.000+09:30

I have just been reading a story about a girl who has been cutting herself.

How crap must life be if the only outlet for you is slice your own skin. On top of the alienation you are already feeling, to then be labeled as an emo.

The trouble I have found is that a few kids actually relish the branding and play to the stereotype even harder. Unfortunately, perhaps fortunately these are not the kids with the huge issues. These are the ones that know exactly what they are doing and do it for attention. The ones I worry about are the one you never know about until it's too late.

Pete

Coffee cake and beers with mates!

2007-04-04T10:16:00.000+09:30

Went to the Wicked sunday festival for Church. Some has to be said for eating and drinking your way through a sunny sunday!

The worlds longest cake was rasing money for research and support for cerebal palsy, something that is close to our hearts at the moment. Gotta say best day ever as a 30 year old!

1 vs 100

2007-04-04T10:09:00.000+09:30

Would you trust this man with 100 grand?

Baptism

2007-04-04T10:05:00.000+09:30

My mate Rohan and I have been talking about his baptism for about 7 years. Finally, the other week we got organised and headed to the beach near his house. Yeehah!

The best thing about baptising Rohan was that he has been committed to following the Gospel with everything he is from the day he called himself a christian. Rohan is one person I can proudly say I totally respect and see nothing but awesome integrity in the man he is.

Jo his wife is awesome as well.

Yup. 30 years old

2007-02-11T22:25:00.000+10:30

Well, that is it then. I have apparently reached the end of adolescence.

Pity really, I was just starting to enjoy myself. I was over the pimples and spontaneous inappropriate adolescent moment and now I am awaiting the beginnings of my mid-life crisis. Funny really because I have been looking at buying a new car, a sports one no less.

So here I am considering buying a house having children and being stable for the rest of my life. At least when I hit 70 I can wet my pants and forget my name for a while, but that is too far away! I might start tomorrow.

The hard work now is that i have to redefine myself again. This has slowly been happening over the last couple of years. I can't just go off on overly emotional rants wanting to punch someones head in just because they annoy me, I actually find myself wanting a empiric reason for anger.

It is strange, but i had a conversation with one of the higher ups within the Churches of Christ structure and felt listened to. I was still angry about a few things and don't want to let go of that anger just yet, but at least now I stop from just ranting and give reasons for my reaction.

Still, one day I will be allowed to be a cynical, crotchety old bastard, but until then, I can just be 30.

Hick up

2007-02-01T13:26:00.000+10:30

I find it ironic that as a nation we are apparently fighting to free the iraqis from a dehumanizing system of dictatorial oppression while David Hicks remains locked in cell for five years without charge.

Wifeless

2007-01-17T18:27:00.000+10:30

Well, i am more than half way through a month without my wife. Before you ask too many questions. She is in Vanuatu on a DDP cultural exposure trip.

It has been a weird experience so far. It is a big house that suddenly felt a whole lot bigger. This may sound callous though. I thought I would miss her more than I do. I will quantify that by saying, most people I spoke to thought I would be a mess and could not look after myself at all. On top of that people have been saying that I must get really lonely at home. So in light of that, it's been fine. I am cookng for myself, cleaning, shopping and functioning quite well emotionally.

It would be harder if Maryann was away just on holiday and not living in a village without a phone. I will miss her the most when she sits a Sydney airport for 5 hours on the way home.

I will post again soon, in the meantime the bread has baked and I need to hang out the washing, Damn it, broke a nail.

Pete

Professional Empthy

2006-11-17T11:17:00.000+10:30

How can you professionally empathise?

I have thought about this for a while now. I would have thought that professional care is such that is care from a distance, clear boundries and clear direction with a purpose. Empathy on the other hand is sitting in the dust with a person, emotional boundries are blurry, direction is not always clear and both parties are prone to emotional outbursts.

That is not to say that empathy is unhealthy, just different from the 'professional care' model'. I am an empathiser for the most part. I rarely feel comfortable is the professional care mode, and I struggle to not get emotionally involved in the stories of the young people I work with.

In the situation I am in, I see the only way to care is the empathic model, I don't believe you can care for most young people without being emotionally involved. As a result the lines blur from distinct boundries and allow some weird stuff to happen, sometimes for the best sometimes for the worst. Fortunately I haven't ever had an experience that has been for the worst. Thank God! But I have seen it happen. I have seen that when I am down, flat or just emotionally exhausted the students I am supposed to care for are the first ones to make sure I am alright. Is that professionally caring or is that becuase we are sitting in the dust together?

I love my emotionally exhausting job!

Development of sustainable networks

2006-09-08T14:58:00.000+09:30

Over the past few weeks I have come to see that the people that I am called to care for are becoming more and more my support network. In the job I do there is little or no support from the over arching Churches of Christ conference. We are expected to build our own networks and seek our own accountability. Seems like bullshit to me when the most likely to burn out are the ones that don’t have time to pursue their own care.

But for me, I have had students asking me how I am going and really caring for me. Stuff like lollies and offering to by me a drink from the canteen has shown me that my wellbeing is not ignored by the kids. My question is why is this coming from people who are not in a position of care within the structure of churches of Christ? My answer would have to be, because I have a relationship with these people, and I don’t have one with my conference.

That said a mate took me out for a coffee the other night to see how I was coping with the sale of our latest campsite. She has nothing to do with our conference but she saw that I was struggling with where I was at and took steps to make sure I didn’t feel alone. That made me feel as though I was worth something to someone outside of my immediate care network.

The biggest problem with being cared for by those you are responsible for caring for, is that you can sometimes skew the relationship to be about you. It is a fine line and one that I think most ministers have to toe. I cannot understand how a relationship can be completely one sided. Both parties have to get something out of it, whether it is being heard or feeling like you make a difference to somebody.

Now that I have talked myself in circles, I do want to say that I believe a conference of churches has a repsonsabliity to see that all ministers in its employ or sphere of influence, are cared for. This prevents harm to both ministers and churches. Makes sense to me.

The Church is a messy place to be

2006-08-25T02:03:00.000+09:30

My church conference recently decided to sell a campsite. Which you may say is not a big deal, and I might agree with you. The actual sale is not that big a deal. For me the decision and how it was made is a big deal.

I believe that all people who are impacted by this decision should have a place to have their voice heard. Call it a forum, call it democracy, call it a family meeting, whatever you call it, it should happen!

Too often I hear "we should submit to the vision of the church" and to a small extent I agree. Unfortunately I am human and my vision for the church is different to others. Joe SeniorPerson in the next pew over has a different vision for the church than me, what makes mine more valid?

Wouldn't we be stronger in our vision if we had some dialogue to work out where we are and where we want to be?

We need the dissadent voices to hold the Church accountable.

2006-08-23T18:59:00.000+09:30

This beautiful beast has shown me that elegance and being 'proper' come a distant second to being real and allowing yourself to relax and keep it real. Now if only I could clean myself!

I have found my Christ

2006-02-24T14:04:00.000+10:30

The other day I was talking to a student about some of the shit stuff that has been going on for her. What it reminded me of was that I cannot fix everything. Sometimes I get ahead of myself or do stuff under my own steam, but every now and then I get slapped around and am forced to recognise that I am human and the world is beyond my control.

I see Christ in those that teach me that this journey is about humans. That we can live and fix, cut, paste and sought things out but every now and then we need to allow ourselves to be shattered and crucified with those who get lost in the system, exploited or just plain screwed.

I found an image of Christ and had to go and have a cry.

Masculine spirituality

2005-08-08T11:57:00.000+09:30

Its all about candles and flowers and sitting quietly thinking about your own quiet self. I have just started my latest subject at CCTC and am struggling with it.

Its Contempory Spiritualities of Transformations, and I was looking forward to it. I don't want to insult anyone, particularly the lecturer, but I will struggle to maintain myself through this subject. Its not a boring subject, its just soooo feminine.

I wonder what a masculine spirituality would look like? I would imagine something more confronting and less passive. Not that being feminine is a passive thing but you may catch my drift. Most men can't stop and think for hours unless it is something active that has forced reflection.

For example I may have a conversation with my dad and that would cause me to think about how I relate to him and his role within my ideas and understandings of God. But I would struggle to sit quietly out of the blue and think about the links between God and fatherhood.

I will continue to struggle through it. but I will be looking for masculine images on the way.

Pete

Self Care and ministry

2005-06-22T14:19:00.000+09:30

I have issues....
How's that for news! My problem is that I care for people and want to be involved with people. My problem is that this is also my job. I now work in a high school full time and love it. My work is mainly in assisting students, but I find myself engaging with teachers too, which I love, don't get me wrong. The staff are my mates and I appreciate spending time with them.

The problem begins when as a mate I would say look, I'm tired and cannot listen to this right now, but as a job I have certain amount of contact hours I need to have with people. When does caring for your mates and the emotional energy that requires change and take away from your apparent 'clients'. (I hate the word client, but it'll have to do.)

A school is such a highly intense area to be in, particularly when there is a high level of expectation on success and outcomes from staff.

With young staff, going through life stages like marriage, relationships and general growth, dealing with working with students who see them as the enemy, or as close friends, there is a great deal of emotional energy in this place.

From there my job deals with students and the multitude of issues that face young people today, you name the issue and it exists somewhere in the school community.

Most jobs you can switch off and go home from to debrief, or you work with people in the same situation as you and can journey together. For the minister in the school there is a great deal of isolation. You cannot mouth off regarding work mates or invest too much in the politics of the office because that is not part of the ethics of ministry.

For the worker in the school environment there needs to be particular attention to spiritual direction and development, but for the ministry worker in the secular placement it means travel away from the job to debrief and be cared for. Which, for me anyway, means that I feel as though I have not invested my hours in the ministry in the school.

I have read the books and been told continually that if you do not care for yourself you will reduce your ability to care for others. I hear this and agree, but when. Making hours to go and see someone when you are stuffed and want to switch off and be away from people.

I have a number of things built into my life that are for 'me', sport, the gym and Charlie the wonder dog. But quite often these to become aspects of ministry when people dump emotional baggage on you. Unfortunately, the sensitivities of ministry and nature of the ministering person mean that a person in need won't be told to "piss off and leave me alone!!"

So this week, leading up to holidays, coming off a massive event in StateYouthGames and then an outdoor ed camp, the churches 80th anniversary and too much stuff in too little time, I hear Jesus saying push the boat out deeper and sail to the other side.

Trouble is, the boat is leaky and the liquid in the creek is thick and I can't find my paddle!

2 more days till holidays!

2005-04-04T10:55:00.000+09:30

More than just me
I just finished a making a DVD for my dads birthday. I collected all the photos of him and his dad, who died about 20 years ago, and scanned them and cut and pasted and so on and so on.

After about three days of working on this project, and looking through old family photos it got me thinking about history and being.

This may sound cliched, but I was reminded that we are a collection of people melded together to be who we are.

It that sense I got thinking about eternal life and what it means for my grandad. My brother looks like him, I have personality traits from him, and all us kids have his temper. But his 'soul' exists through my dad and throughout us kids, same as all our ancestors played some part and thus their soul continues to exist within all of us.

Watching Hot Shots, the Charlie sheen comedy, a comment was made, he is an asshole, his father was an asshole and his fathers father was an asshole! As stupid a comment as this is, it got me thinking about the heaven and hell. We can create a destructive pattern that we pass on to our children and from generation to generation, or we can pass on who we are as creating people.

At a funeral the other day I heard story after story about a lady who believed that hospitality was the essence of God, and even though her kids aren't churchy at all, they have a knack for welcoming everybody into their lives and their homes. For that lady, that must be heaven.

2005-03-19T00:18:00.000+10:30

This is the Fresh training day flyer for all y'all interested!

2005-03-03T20:37:00.000+10:30

We spent last Sunday as church looking through the MGA (monash gallery of art) looking through a series of photographs by a father and son, Rex and Max Dupain. It was quite relaxing and yet really tiring and intense.

It got me thinking about how more and more people are turning their backs on digital cameras in favour of film SLR camera's. Not all people are doing it, digital cameras are hugely popular but it seems that people are still pursuing old school photography as art, digital images are a bit Passe as it where.

This got me thinking back to a previous blog, there is something about the purity and subtle mystery when having a film developed. There is also a sense of purity when the photograph is viewed, knowing that it has not been manipulated in anyway before being processed.

The other huge thing is the remaining passion, by younger people for black and white photographs. There is something more simple about black and white photographs. It is clean and uncomplicated, for a society that is bombarded with constantly changing images where one never knows whose head is on whose body and pictures that have been airbrushed to be perfect, the simplicity of black and white photography is very appealing.

I wonder is this can be translated to spirituality, no need to airbrush or liven up the Christian spirituality, no need to go the hard sell, allow the blemishes to be seen and the expression to be 'pure' and more people will take the time to see the heart of what is happening.

Epiphany 4: 30 January Matthew 5:1-12

2005-01-29T15:01:00.000+10:30

Epiphany 4: 30 January Matthew 5:1-12

This is a page that my mum pointed me to when in need of some background for sermons. Its great, although it has forced me to re-think my approach to readings after I have written the sermon!!

Peace

What the hell does that mean?

2004-12-08T11:15:00.000+10:30

Digger has raised an interesting topic of the church aiming to be relevant.

I strongly believe that the church is incredibly relevant, when it seeks to proclaim the Gospel. When we are aiming for market share and target audiences I believe we miss the point. Very few people give a damn about the songs we sing or the 3 steps to a more powerful prayer life, or the 12 step program to rid yourself of a plague of rabid pubic hair by using Johns gospel 3 times daily! We have tried to be relevant and sold our souls, the very essesance of who we are to do it.

If we seek to love all creation, with integrity, keep and open table and seek God, we will always be relevant, maybe not 'sucessful' but relevant.

Accountability and Communion

2004-11-18T18:04:00.000+10:30

In my last post I suggested that accountability has too long been prescribed by the church and expected by people as a top down system. I also suggested that christian spirituality is a personal thing and that the expression of it is a natural thing that needs a personal integrity to it as opposed to the top down accountability that I mentioned before.

That said, and thankyou Dan for pointing out a massive hole in my argument, there is a need for people with different expressions of Christian faith and different opinions to gather regularly and share with one another, to dialogue, and offer opportunities that will challenge each other in their thinking and expression of faith. For me, my experiences of this challenge are becoming more and more centered around Communion.

The diversity of the people who share around the table can be incredible, it does not matter what faith expression you have, what religion, what practical theology you have, it is all brought to the table and shared as part of the community.

Unfortunately I think we can gather as the church with only like minded people and become too insular. I will do some more thinking and post later.

What do people think the subject of communion?

Accountability

2004-11-18T09:57:00.000+10:30

Accountability In The Emerging Church

Andy asked a question early in the piece about if the Church is just when people gather together, what happens to accountability? The gathering is likely to just become people getting together as mates with no relationship to God.

This is true, it would be easy to allow the gatherings to just be a bbq with mates talking about the football and so on, but I think we are looking at a bigger issue within the Christian community.

As a Christian I have looked to the church to keep me accountable, this has often meant that I felt guilty for not praying enough, not reading my Bible enough, not worshiping enough, or not having the 'right' relationship with Jesus that I should have. I forfeited a great deal of my spirituality to fit in to what the church wanted from me as it made me accountable. I have an activist spirituality, which means that quiet times don't really do anything for me, but planting tree's or working on something engages my spirituality and strengthens my relationship with God. There is no right way or wrong way.

I think though, and this was said to me during my ministry formation training, that people in churches are likely to feel threatened by my approach to faith, my activist spirituality will clash with the people that want to have quiet times and reflective communities.

There is space for both, but I felt squashed within the church and could have easily walked away and joined the Socialist Students Collective or something that was active in is expression.

What has this got to do with accountability?

I think we are look to the Church and other people to hold us accountable. We lose our personal integrity when we just do what other people tell us we 'should' be doing! Being accountable for me means acting with integrity, it does not mean living up to a quota of prayer times, bible readings and worship services, it means acting with integrity on the things that you believe. If you thrive on quiet times, good for you, make sure you do it, let others know that you intend to do it, but don't expect everyone else to do it because you said so. The same goes for people like me who want to be doing things all the time, act with integrity, if you are passionate about something act on it, but don't expect everyone else to do what you want!

The Church is made up of people with individual expressions and spiritualities, you cannot dictate to everyone what they should, do, think or be. This is what makes the Church so beautiful, and at the same time so frustrating.

That said, there is a need to avoid gathering soley with the people that are exactly the same as you, the need to challenge yourself and find out who you are.

Pete

Emerging Church Emerging Spirituality

2004-10-18T20:41:00.000+09:30

Bonsai Trees
I bought myself a bonsia tree yesterday and I have noticed an increase in their popularity, once I got it home and began to read about them and the processes that are needed I was a little suprised. I thought, little tree, little work. You have to water everyday, feed them regularly, shape them, trim them wire them and sing to them! there is more work and it is all on such a small scale. So I got to thinking about the emerging interest in this peace finding spirit that I have observed more and more amongst people in my age group.

Prayer Flags.
I am starting to see more people who know what prayer flags are and think they are a great idea. I watch the lifestyle channel a fair bit and see stuff like this all the time now. The material on the flags is not hemd and so the loose threads fly off and carry the prayers that have been prayed onto that flag off on the wind. Cool idea.

This used to be considered a tree hugging hippy thing to do, but they are becoming more and more commonplace. Prayer and meditation are just another aspect of a quite normal lifestyle.

Renewed Interest in Surfing
More people are into surfing, I guess with cars, fashion and surfboards becoming more accessable than ever this is a given. But it is interesting to see that the 'surfer lifestyle' with mediation and peace, being at one with the ocean is becoming a fairly accepted thing to do.

Yoga now accepted part of lifestyle
Yoga is still considered a hippy, new age, devil possessed thing to do by some narrow minded d$*kheads, but the wider society think nothing of it. There is now an undercurrent of thinking and spirituality that says this is a normal aspect of life. In fact, I hear many people talking about the need to have space and time for reflection, there is a heap of healthy language flying around.

As the Church continues to emerge in this age we need to make sure we hear this and dialogue with the people seeking space and reflection.

eLefant Traks

2004-10-15T09:19:00.000+09:30

I was thinking about how we tend to think that the gospel is only proclaimed in nice tones and tidy stories, but I wrote an essay on hip hop culture and where it came from and where it has gone. It began as a movement about justice and freedom and that tradition is carried on by groups like j5 and public enemy. But there is a ground swell of aussie hip hop calling people to account.

Check out these guys. Angry aussies screaming for justice and dignity for the oppressed. However massive language warning on this one.

eLefant Traks

The Gathering

2004-10-11T17:46:00.000+09:30

What is the Church?

I was thinking about this as I spoke to my parents about their experience at the voting booth on Saturday, this started me thinking again about what the Church is and why it exists.

My reflection is that the church is the gathering of God's people, what happens after that is still the Church, and the Church ministers wherever those who associate with the people of God care and proclaim the gospel.

I love the gathering of the Church, it is a great place that thrives in contexts and within people that would not step into a formalised religion, it exists where there is evangelical bands, speakers screaming 'come forward for salvation, I see that hand!!' it underpins youth groups, social gatherings, workplaces basically anywhere 2 or more gather.

Members of the Church minister in ways that the formalised Church can not. Wherever people who have confessed 'Christ is risen' proclaim the gospel the Church is ministry. This excites me, that this undercurrent of the gospel carries the Church into peoples houses, workplaces and schools. I was reading on another blog the danger of the 'emerging church' throwing out the programs and just being, and to a certain extent I agree. The gathered church can minister in some very powerful ways, but as a wise man once said, or was it Phil McCreddan, perhaps a wise man wrote it and Phil read then told everyone else that a wise man said it, anyway, this wise man said, "You can catch glimpses of the Kingdom of God, but you cannot build a program around a glimpse." Once you try to contain or repeat that glimpse of the kingdom, where the oppressed are set free, there is release to the captives, the blind can see....... If you try to contain that it slips away.

The gathering of the Church remains a powerful thing, my earliest experience of the kingdom came about at a rally for peace. Sitting on my dads shoulders looking around at the most people I had ever seen gathered in one place for the same reason, thinking 'Wow, this is great. I want ice cream.' (I was only about 6). But that experience has stayed with me and underpins my understanding of the power of the gathered church. And while I love this image I do not want to see the gathered church reduced to a flash mobbing type of event.

The Church gathers to proclaim the gospel as a choir, and to tell the stories of the people of God.

I was about to write a question but then again, I am a minister and I already know the answer...... To this question anyway.

Why the hell have we made the gathering of church so boring and conservative?
I am speaking from my own experiences here remember that before the social action Church of Christ steals my letterbox and sets fire to my cat in protest! But we have cut down the gathering and stories to one persons choice of songs, and then one or two people speaking of their experiences of God as if no one else is valid! Again, sweeping generalisation. But as a minster I can say, it is often easier to organise everything the same way, and keep in under your control, if you let people speak up in church they may say something that is controversial.

what do people think?

A another new Begining

2004-10-08T14:00:00.000+09:30

Once again I begin a project that will require me to regularly fit another thing into my schedule, not that I run to one otherwise it would not be an issue, however I will endevour to express thoughts that I find interesting and do so with integrity. I may well be reduced to merely linking to other sites but that is how it goes sometimes.

I have been reading some articles on the 'emerging church' and on evangelism whoops, no, I mean reaching the unchurched, (why the hell would we want to church someone?) and being a member of a church community, a missional church community, a new testament missional emerging church community reaching for the lost, the not so lost, the poor, the not so poor and the sometimes not so churched I have to say that it can be crap.

Because this community began from nothing it couldn't go backwards really, so any bump on the radar is a great achievement, however we begin this notion of Church on the backfoot. We have committed ourselves to not running events and programs that we can invite people to, we don't have musicians, well, we do, but we can't be stuffed playing music for church because we feel that it usually gets in the way, the one thing that we are committed to is meeting around the table for communion and trying to understand how to 'preach the gospel' in our lives.

We are a community of young people some are just recently married, others are moving house, the most senior member of the team is the do it all save the world pastoral care guru from and v.p. of a theological college, so most of the time is helping faith communities talk to each other. We usually meet in a lounge room and have a reading and then try to understand the impact for each of us as individuals and a community, we take communion and tell the stories that have impacted us during the week.

I have been told that we do not really 'worship the Lord' because we don't have music, 'its more a Bible study than a real Church' and I love this one, 'this is a cutting edge church'. To be honest we a group of people trying to understand faith in the context of our homes, workplaces and the greater world we live in. We are not trying to be an amazing new cutting edge venture. Sometimes I would love to fall back into being a charasmatic movement with singing and preaching from the platform and rosters and structure, but that would be far removed from our call and expression as a group of people.

We have had about 45 people connect with this community in one way or another, there are about 5 regulars and we began with 12, but as life takes over and young adults move and change it becomes difficult to be together regularly.

I would like to raise an idea that I heard years ago, a seasonal community. There are seasons for all people, all ages, why are we always so passionate about connecting, converting and then keeping within our community? I think we discredit the Church when we think we are the only expression that can exist and is right for this person or family.

There is pain in a seasonal communnity though, with every passing season there is death. A community that understands that there is a time to die and a time to be born will find death less damaging and will hurt less people as it releases (such a cliched pastoral word) its people to find meaning for their new season.

Still I think the emerging church will fall over all the time, but the Church, the Gospel will continue to exist in ways that Christians must search for and validate.

Pete Rivett