Archive for May, 2010

Pentecost and Baptism.

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

It seemed fitting that we baptized people on Pentecost Sunday. Rachel, who  arrived in NZ that morning from Kansas City, with an inkling about getting baptised in southern waters,  stumbled (jet-lagged) into church to hear a message about Pentecost -  the arrival of Holy Spirit,  including an invitation to be baptised that afternoon. Some would call it random. We think it was a divine collision. God is like that. But certainly not random.

So, into a full tide under a grey autumn sky three beautiful young women pledged their allegiance to Jesus and embarked on a new stage on their faith journey. We commend you Rachel, Maranda and Sarah!

Jesus comforted his friends by telling them,

It is for your own good that I am going, because unless I go the Paraclete (Spirit) will not come to you; but if I do go, I will send Him to you. He will lead you to the complete truth.

And he told them…

not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the gift the Father promised. John baptised with water but in a few days you will be baptised with the
Holy Spirit.

10 days later, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and the Church was born!

Holy Spirit Welcome….You are welcome here. Guide us Holy Spirit…Speak to us again.

Dismantling the Plastic Jesus

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

“I don’t care if it rains or freezes
‘Long as I got my plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Through my trials and tribulations
And my travels through the nations
With my plastic Jesus I’ll go far”

While these 60′s folk song lyrics are a little tongue and cheek, unfortunately they can sometimes be a little closer to the truth than most of us would like to admit. If you are anything like me, you will at times find yourself imagining Jesus as the Jesus you think he should be, or perhaps ‘moulding’ him into something you can get your head around.  This isn’t helped by all sorts of misconceptions or misunderstandings we can have about Jesus which distort the truth of who he really was and is.  What does your plastic Jesus look like?  Is Jesus just a good luck charm to help us get through life?

Here at Edge Kingsland we aren’t satisfied with Plastic Jesus, we want the real thing.  And so at School we are setting out to dismantle the plastic Jesus and go in search of the real one.

Come and join us, 7pm each Thursday in June in the café, as we explore some of the misconceptions that exist about Jesus and look into who he really was and is.  Each week will have a different focus, looking at one area/set of misconceptions and searching for the true Jesus.  There will be plenty of room for questions and discussion, so come along and let’s ‘Dismantle the Plastic Jesus’ together.

If we don’t, who knows what he might become:

“If I weave around at night
And policemen think I’m tight
They never find my bottle, though they ask
Plastic Jesus shelters me
For His head comes off, you see
He’s hollow, and I use Him for a flask”

Post Pentecost

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” Acts 2:1-5

When I was young, my mum suffered some pretty serious chemical poisoning from a work accident. She was sick for a while there and it wasn’t a great outlook. She faced severe joint pain, partial paralysis and the prospect of cancer as we faced learning sign language with the likelihood of it causing her deafness. One day she walked into a healing meeting at our church and after receiving prayer fell to the ground with a whizzing warmth like lightning shooting through her body. She was healed. Our life as a family changed at that point. Before then, we’d had one foot in Gods door, but afterwards we dedicated our family life to discovering God. God with us. God real to us.

It’s almost impossible when God visits to walk away unchanged. When the Spirit was given to the Church in Acts they took God to the world in a whole new way. Being his voice. His hand. Acts records the disciples ‘agreeing’ with the Spirit and being led through dreams and visions. He was active in their lives relating God to every man and woman. Pentecost wasn’t just a fortunate event (for tonnes of reasons!), it was, it is, crucial for us the church!

Last Sunday was awesome. Through our body, Edge, it was like a fire, a deep warmth, and a change was blowing through us. It wasn’t hard to believe it when Greg shared he believes God is bringing us into a new Pentecost. A new life for a new time, and what a time it is!

I wonder what Edge will look like in 6 months, a year, 5 years? How will these days where God meets us change our community? What does God have in store for Edge Kingsland?

I’m looking forward to more Sundays like the last. More everydays like Sunday. More of God in our lives.

Pentecost Sunday.

Friday, May 21st, 2010

According to the Christian tradition, Pentecost is always seven weeks after Easter Sunday. It is one of the prominent feasts in the Christian Liturgical year and commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles of Christ.

Its significance in the biblical story highlights the collaboration between God and man to redeem humanity. This transcendent encounter empowered them to communicate in ways that would amplify the voice of God in the earth.

Pentecost is our festival, our feast. The celebration of an ongoing conversation between God and man, embodied in a people who are becoming the talk of the town. The testimony of Jesus, the very spirit of prophecy.

This is a season to reflect, to open our hearts, and receive all that the Holy Spirit has for us.

The prayer of the Blessed John XXIII says it all..

“O Holy Spirit, Paraclete, perfect in us the work begun by Jesus: enable us to continue to pray fervently in the name of the whole world: hasten in everyone of us the growth of a profound interior life; give vigor to our apostolate so that it may reach all men and all peoples, all redeemed by the Blood of Christ and all belonging to him. Mortify in us our natural pride, and raise us to the realms of holy humility, of real fear of God, of generous courage. Let no earthly bond prevent us from honoring our vocation, no cowardly considerations disturb the claims of justice, no meanness confine the immensity of charity within the narrow bounds of petty selfishness. Let everything in us be on a grand scale: the search for truth and the devotion to it, and readiness for self-sacrifice, even to the cross and death; and may everything finally be according to the last prayer of the Son to his heavenly Father, and according to the pouring out of your Spirit, O Holy Spirit of love, whom the Father and the Son desired to be poured out over the Church and her institutions, over the souls of men and of nations.”

Lets talk like we used to.

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

Mothers day got me thinking again about men, and how masculinity is such a clouded issue in our society. Men face many challenges and issues as we try to navigate this life. Why do so many of us struggle with our identity? Why do so many of us turn our backs on kids and partners when things get tough? Why do the ‘Bastions of Masculinity’, the professional athletes, continue to abuse alcohol, drugs, and women? Why does NZ have some of the highest rates of child abuse and suicide amongst males in the developed world? It seems something has gone terribly wrong?!

Before the Great Depression and World War II it was common for up to four generations of males to live in the same household, interacting daily and passing down wisdom as a natural part of life. Young men learned by practical example how to be good husbands and fathers; older men learned how to respect and encourage the enthusiasm of youth; and all learned together how to honour their wives, daughters, sisters, girlfriends, and mothers. This type of close-knit community is now all too uncommon.

So how do we address these issues? Surely the answer is more than just trying harder to be good, or talking more about our sexual struggles?

I propose we facilitate some conversation.  A cross-generational get together of men folk who want to talk about this stuff. This will not be the answer but rather the start of a journey together to see if we can uncover some of the glory that is resident within each of us men. This will not be a ‘Men’s Ministry’, but rather a band-of-brothers (and sons, and fathers, and grandfathers) attempting to do life together instead of struggling alone. This will not be advertised in the notices on Sunday morning, but rather it will take individuals speaking to their friends and acquaintances and inviting them along.

To steal a phrase from Vodafone… “Lets talk like we used to”

EDGE Kingsland,  Monday June 21st, 7pm.

Jamie.

Fair Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Good.

Friday, May 14th, 2010

Fairtrade – What does it really mean?
FairtradeTM, fair trade, trading fairly, etc

What is a fair trade?
When we buy FairtradeTM, are we choosing products because we actually like them more than the unfairtrade alternative, or because we’re feel better about helping someone out by doing so?

Is that really a fair trade?

If I bought a cup of coffee that was made with FairtradeTM beans, but was shit, is that a fair trade…?

Meeting FairtradeTM stipulations imposed by the FLO (FairTrade licensing organization), can compromise the quality of the product.
There are stiff criteria that farmers must meet in order to belong to the FLO. e.g., they must belong to a co-op (as opposed to a family-owned estate for example); yearly fees are substantial.

There are coffee growers that cannot afford to belong to the FLO, and therefore do not, who enjoy far greater prices for their coffee. Why? Because they grow beautiful quality coffee, and are paid accordingly.
The COE (Cup Of Excellence) is an international online coffee trading scheme that rewards quality, and as a result, pays far more to the farmer that FLO min price. And it cuts out the middleman – the bureaucrats with well-stocked stationary cupboards and new iPads.

So – what really is a fair trade…???
What can I do here, today, in NZ?

Do I pay what I owe?
Do I owe someone something?
Have I kept my word?
Have I kept up my end of an agreement?
Do I trade fairly?

If I cross the street to buy FairtradeTM, in order to help someone I will probably never meet, and miss an opportunity to connect with my neighbor, what really is the point?
Is that a clanging gong I hear in the distance…?
How does FairtradeTM/fair trade/fairness fit into this ‘upside-down’ Kingdom of ours?

Is fairtrade wrong?
Hell no!
Is it all we can do?
Of course not.

Mums.

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

Thanks Mum.

Friday, May 7th, 2010

Mums. Where would we be without them? Literally, where? They are a staple to our society. When I Googled mothers this morning the first result was, “MOTHERS: Polishes, Waxes and Cleaners”. It was the grand statement of a High Performance Car Care company, catering for the needs of desperate and lonely cars in hunger for some TLC. Brilliant. Someone out there was so enamored with the great job their mum did they could only think to name their next greatest passion (high performance car care) in their honour.

That’s because mums are awesome. My mum used to buy me marmite and chip sandwiches for lunch at Primary school, which to this day is still my strongest memory there (sad but true). She was at every game, competition, event and ceremony I can remember. She has always prayed for me when I’ve needed it and especially when I think I haven’t. She’s a super mum. She was Never too busy to trim my bowl cut (actually with a bowl by the way!) or read to me from the picture dictionary before bed. That’s commitment.

So, yeh, I agree that mums are definitely the high performance care products our society needs. But they’re so much more. They’re the engine that drove us for so many years, and its so fitting to be honoring them this Sunday for their love, care, and commitment.

Thanks mums.

At Home in the Bible – The Heart

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

Yesterday, both Erin and Linda touched on the need to engage with God with our imaginations.  We understand that our imaginations are part of our mind, right?  So if engaging God with our mind is so important, how come the writers of the Bible seemed more interested in engaging God with their hearts?

We can see this fascination with the heart especially well in the Psalms:

Psalm 9:1 (TNIV) I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.

Psalm 28:7 (TNIV) My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.

Psalm 62:8 (TNIV) Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

Among other definitions, Mirriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines ‘heart’ as ‘the emotional or moral as distinguished from the intellectual nature’.  But although this is our understanding of the term, it is not at all what is represented by the word heart in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament.

To divide up the body into various compartments (e.g. body, soul and spirit, or in this case heart and mind) is actually more representative of Greek philosophy than the Hebrew Scriptures.  The Hebrews didn’t think in the same way as we do, and weren’t subject to over-departmentalisation.  ‘Heart’ for them referred to the centre of a person…it was what governed all of a person’s attributes (physical, intellectual and psychological), words and actions.  What we describe as character, personality, will and mind all fit within the Hebrew understanding of the term ‘heart’.  (In fact, what we mean when we say ‘heart’ is better reflected in Hebrew by the term ‘bowels’!)

We can see some of this diverse usage of the word ‘heart’ in some of the stories of Jesus in the Gospels:

Mark 3:5 (TNIV) (the will)  ‘We looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.’

Mark 2:8 (TNIV) (the mind) ‘Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things?’

Luke 24:32 (TNIV) (feelings) ‘They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”’

In fact, due to the Greek influence leading up to the 1st century AD, the Old Testament command to ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength’ (Deuteronomy 6:4–5) in the New Testament becomes ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength’ (Mark 12:30).  The word ‘mind’ isn’t added in because the Old Testament writers missed it, but because the Greek concept of the ‘mind’ was included in the command right from the start in the word ‘heart’.

So indeed not only is it a good idea to engage with God with our intellect and our imagination (thank you Erin and Linda!), but we are in fact commanded to.  And God promises that if we do, we won’t be let down, for ‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart’ (Jeremiah 29:13).

AndyD