NorthHarbour

Recent family happenings

2006-06-20T06:56:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of family updates.

Josh's soccer team were lucky enough to be coached by Steve Corica as a treat last week. Steve has played 40 games for the Socceroos and scored the premiership winning goal for Sydney FC last year. His work had a big impact - the boys won 5-2 on the weekend against the strong Harbord side!

Zoe had her fifth birthday party last Saturday and it was a hoot. An old friend of our Dominique did her amazing show for the kids and had them all completely entranced.

Jamie - Vineyard Pastor from Chile

2006-05-22T05:50:00.000-07:00

Last night I had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with a Vineyard pastor from Chile, Jamie. He was here visiting his brother who goes to Seaforth Baptist just down the road, pastored by a great friend Dave Rowe. Our time together was rich, hurriedly telling each other about the Vineyard movement in our countries and our own churches. He has been in chile for over 15 years, having gone there from his home of South Africa on a missionary trip. He ended up marrying in Chile and having 4 children, while pasturing a couple of larger churches and a couple of church plants out of them. He lost his third child at the age of 3.5, just two weeks after they planted their current church. God has really worked in his family and church through the mourning process. I felt such love for him and his journey as we spoke and prayed together, knowing we would likely never have the chance to meet again.

We both kept coming back to the centrality of the presence of God in our churches as we meet. As Vineyard it is in our musical worship that we truly foster this relationship of intimacy with Him. As he spoke about how this intimacy in worship developed in each of his churches, and how each time new people would start to come and be broken by the love of Jesus AFTER the church had begun to surrender in worship. I felt convicted again of the things God has called us to at NorthHarbour – in the old vineyard saying we are to be “people of His presence”. I pulled out Alex Venter’s book “doing Church” and we both emphatically agreed about the importance of the message of this passage:

Church should be structured and done in such a way that the minute the presence of God is not there everything should collapse. If the Holy Spirit withdraws at any point because He is grieved for whatever reason everything should go wrong. We should be as vulnerable as that! The universe is. It would instantly implode if God withdrew His presence and His Word (Heb 1:3). It is my considered opinion that most Churches do not even know if God’s presence is
among them or not. Business continues as usual because what sustains them, what makes them ‘tick’, is their own programmes, personalities, power and control. Would we know it if God withdrew His presence and wrote ‘Ichabod’ over our Churches because ‘the glory had departed’ (as in the Temple in Ezekiel ch. 10)? Would anything change in the Church to show us that in reality everything has changed that ever could change—because God is not there? John used to say that if the Lord did not ‘show up’ when we gathered we should have
the courage to call it a day and go home because there is no other reason for meeting!

The Vineyard in Chile is growing strong, as it is in Australia. My time with Jamie was so encouraging and challenged me to re-visit the very things God put on or hearts when Liz and I reluctantly :-) trusted him to move to the Northern Beaches and help birth this little community from scratch.

Money - again

2006-05-01T05:49:00.000-07:00

Just saw this new article on Money and Giving at FutureChurch - posted on this here a while back and discussed in a sermon during February. Hohstadt's view in the article is similar to others including Len Sweet, and one I primarily agree with.
A quote "In summary, New Testament giving is far more radical and robust, visionary and volatile, than any of the other reasons for giving we've been given so far. "
It is worth going to the site and having a read, if only to see the surreal photos of the author in his conducting stage of life.

The Power of the Blog

2006-04-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

The Sydney Morning Herald has an interesting article on blogging, saying
"BLOGGERS and internet pundits are exerting a disproportionately large influence on society".
Something we bloggers already knew but the secret is getting out.
Some more quotes from the article:
"Bloggers and blog readers are 'influentials"
"The strongest part of their influence is on the media"
The more I read and pray at the moment, the more I believe the Christian voice is to be a prophetic one - speaking God's truth into the darkness, calling people back to the Lord, reminding ourselves of God's heart for the alien, the widow, the lost. Cutting through the "spin" and hype.
We know that mass media will never provide a clear vehicle for that prophetic voice. Maybe the blogosphere increasingly will?
Read the article at the SMH site

Was Judas pushed?

2006-04-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

The gnostic Gospel of Judas is being pumped up by the National Geographic Society, and no wonder if hey have paid over $1m for rights to it. The SMH article is here, and some good blogged responses from scholars are already out - Scot McKnight and Ben Witherington. It is frustrating that the NGS and writers such as Elaine Pagels use unsubstantiated manuscripts such as these to get front page news, constantly muddying the waters for the average punter as to the authority of the bible. I am amazed at the number of people I speak to who think the Da Vinci code is factual, and Jesus got married and didn;t really die on the cross, mostly because it was the last thing they read or heard about on the subject. Maybe we need to do a better job of getting solid historical Jesus scholarship on the front pages of our newspapers??
peace john

Emerging Church "Denominational Rifts"

2006-04-03T04:51:00.000-07:00

This article (pdf) from Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church has just come out and I came across it at Tall Skinny Kiwi (who is mentioned in the article), it gives a great background to how the emerging church in the USA began and the authors perspective on different evolutions of missional church.
Mark Driscoll is a powerful EC voice but very, very theologically conservative and this is bringing him into conflict with Brian Mclaren and others - the first "denominational" rifts in the emerging movement are becoming clear and this article lays them out very clearly.

Speaking for Justice

2006-04-02T15:57:00.000-07:00

What a rich season of impartation we find ourselves in here in Sydney-town. 6 weeks ago it was Brian mcLaren, 3 weeks ago Tom Wright and in a couple of weeks we have Jim Wallis from Sojourners speaking at the University of Sydney. And Bono on Andrew Denton's show recently too. I am so grateful to all the organisations who are bringing these guys to town.
I was talking with Andrew and Jess after our gathering on Sunday who also felt that we are in the middle of an amazing time of opportunity for evangelicals (or post-evangelicals or generous evangelicals as I am starting to think of us) in this part of the world to truly grab hold of an expanded theology and missional practice around issues of social and environmental justice. These issues seem to be on everyone's lips.
And it is not just among church types - I spoke recently at my Toastmasters group on the Make Poverty History campaign and had an overwhelming response of support. It is wonderful to turn up to meetings now and see all the white arm bands!
Currently I am preparing for our next teaching series on Habakkuk, and came across this great bit in the excellent commentary from Frank Gaebelein (written in 1970):
"the present day evangelical ministry needs to declare itself more boldly against injustice; it should be free to exercise this God-given obligation without being criticized for preaching merely a social gospel. Proclaiming the gospel is not incompatible with responsible exercise of the prophetic ministry".
It is interesting the Jim Wallis and others founded Sojourners a year later in 1971, and their faithful commitment to this ministry has long been bearing fruit. But it does truly seem that their voice is made for a time such as this - get along to see Jim if you can.

Prosperity doctrine

2006-03-30T18:55:00.000-08:00

many (perhaps most?) evangelicals I talk to struggle with the perceived prosperity doctrine of australia's large pentecostal churches such as Christian City Church and Hillsong. I think it is too simplistic to stand back and accuse these guys of preaching a prosperity doctrine - a bit like people in the Eighties saying all the Vineyard was about was Signs and Wonders. But i do struggle with a lot of the things I see and hear. Ben Witherington has written a strong blog post on this topic, using the USA equivalent in Joel Osteen's church. check it out here http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2006/03/whats-wrong-with-prospering-gospel.html

Bible Translation controversy

2006-02-26T01:14:00.000-08:00

In recent years two major new bible translations have been released - Todays New International Version (TNIV) and the English Standard Version (ESV). The blogosphere has been alight in recent days after Ben Witherington (big-name scholar) accused Wayne Grudem (another big name scholar with a long history with the Vineyard) without naming him of derailing the TNIV and basically creating the ESV as a half-cocked translation, all in the name of countering the TNIV's gender inclusive language. Witherington has since withdrawn his post but you can still catch Grudem's response at the following blog http://theologica.blogspot.com/2006/02/grudem-responds-to-witherington.html. Its amazing how the blogosphere has brought discussions like this into the public domain.

To some of us this is about as interesting as watching grass grow. To others its quite fascinating, I fall into this category and I have done a little of my own digging.

You look down the advisory committee's and translation teams for each version and it a veritable who's who of scholarship, with some interesting results.

TNIV Translation Committee
http://www.tniv.info/story/cbtmembers.php
includes R.T France, Gordon Fee (Regent College), Bruce Waltke (Regent College), Douglas Moo

ESV Translation Team and Oversight Committees http://www.esv.org/translation/team
includes Wayne Grudem, J.I Packer (Regent College), Gordon Wenham, Iain Provan (Regent College)

ESV Advisory Board
http://www.esv.org/translation/council
includes Todd Hunter and Jack Deere (both big Vineyard names)
Philip Jensen (leading Sydney Anglican, some will find it ironic he sits on the committee with two Vineyard names, esp. Jack Deere, after the events outlined in this Vineyard position paper http://www.vineyardusa.org/upload/TheBriefing.pdf)
R.C Sproul
Max Lucado

Interestingly Darrell Bock and Craig Blomberg (both scholars whose work I respect) are listed on the advisory team of the ESV but have written endorsements for the TNIV on their website. Blomberg's article, though long, is excellent and has certainly tilted my favour towards the TNIV for the next translation I will buy. check http://www.tniv.info/pdf/Blomberg.pdf

Another good resource is the Better bibles blog http://englishbibles.blogspot.com/2006/02/j-i-packer-and-esv-team.html, who have some interesting criticisms of J.I Packer and the ESV team.

Given the breakdown of Regent College faculty amongst the two teams (one senior NT and OT scholar on each side) there must have been some great discussions in the staffroom before Gordon Fee left. I have a couple of public debates on mp3 on the role of Women in minstry between Fee, Packer, Watke etc which make for good listening

peace

john

are you post-charismatic?

2006-02-21T14:12:00.000-08:00

Check out this site and see - http://www.robbymac.org/charismatic/
be warned though you need around 15 minutes to do it justice, it reads like a short non-fiction book. Well researched, the site will take you on a journey through pentecostal and charismatic movements of the last century and before, leading to a defining paradigm of post-charismatic - still very much committed to the workings of the Holy Spirit, but grounded appropriately within the Trinity, and with a right focus also on elements of Word and Spiritual Formation that were often lost to Charismatics. There is an excellent critique of authoritarian leadership movements. Its good stuff, certainly resonates with a lot of my thinking and experience.

Update, Brian Mclaren, Resurrection and stuff

2006-02-21T14:04:00.000-08:00

Whew! Its been a busy couple of weeks. Just finished off the 1 Corinthians series on Sundays at church, it is amazing how many of the things that were in my heart to share at NorthHarbour were raised in the text of this book. Has really confirmed a commitment to teach primarily through the bible a book at a time, rather than go for too many "topic" series, though we will spend a couple of weeks on God and the environment shortly as it is a very present theme for so many of us.

went to Brian McLaren last Saturday - realised when I got there I had already listened to most of the material on the internet from Emergent UK (http://www.emergent-uk.org/ukresources.htm) . Was worth being there though - mostly to hang out with Tim from NorthHarbour (www.timbarrett.org ) and spend some time with Pete Horsley and the Small Boat, Big Sea guys. And Brian did prove to be a man full of grace.

The busy-ness has been tough on the family recently - Liz and i especially have been quite worn out. We are so set on this NorthHarbour VC thing not being just an achievement that we can notch on our belt, but definitely something that God is building. Have felt a mingling of joy and grief in my heart over the last few weeks, especially as we have worked through 1 Corinthians 15. So magnificent to look forward to our bodily resurrection alongside Jesus, who is our prototype for new life in a renewed creation (Creation Take 2, as Darrell Johnson puts it). But it has also impressed on me how far our present experience can be from the resurrection - the pain we feel, the dysfunction that doesn't shift, the anger, greed and petty selfishness that haunts our human existence. Maranatha! The tears have been flowing on Sundays....:-)
The last few days have been uplifting, getting lots of sleep, and it feels as though we are moving again into a season of grace.
I'm off to my next Spiritual Direction training retreat this weekend, really looking forward to it (though praying Liz and the kids will also be able to relax and rest in my absence). I love these weekends away with a large group of primarily high Anglicans, Catholic priests and those who have dropped out of the church through dissillusionment - we approach Christ through very different lenses most of the time (with me being a "generous post-evangelical"), but the conversations are always rich and there is immense interest and dialogue of our different viewpoints and experiences.
Andrew Hughes is preaching in my absence, and with others like Pete Stremp and Vijay looking after the details, what a blessing to be able to nick off and leave NorthHarbour in such capable hands. peace john

Next Salsa event

2006-02-14T03:26:00.000-08:00

Our next big Salsa event is coming up soon, a family affair for a Sunday afternoon at the Community Centre where our church meets. Details at:
http://65.254.46.136/jcweb/section4/subsection4.html

Planning Day

2006-02-14T03:22:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday saw our crew come together for the first NorthHarbour VC planning day. It was all we could have hoped for- heartfelt honesty, great ideas and enthusiasm, a sense as always that God is at work amongst us. Of course we have way too much we'd love to do for a group of already busy people, but I believe we had a taste of what lies ahead.

audio success

2006-01-31T05:11:00.000-08:00

It looks like we have finally overcome the technical hitches and started to get a decent recording of the Sunday message happening. SO if you want to have a listen to what I spend about 15 hours a week preparing and 30 minutes delivering, click here

new faces

2006-01-22T02:54:00.000-08:00

the last couple of weeks we have seen some new faces in our meetings. we are amazed at the beautiful people God is bringing along - to be honest we are still amazed anyone at all has joined us on this wild ride that is churchplanting!
And yet (almost in spite of Liz and I) a community has formed and grows - people with hearts to love another, to serve Christ, to work out our salvation together. Even though it feels like we could "do church" so much better, it is somehow just right. God is glorified in our realness rather than our slickness, our efforts rather than our execution, our desperateness for Him rather than our years of experience and wealth of knowledge.

He is good.

Holidays

2006-01-09T02:25:00.000-08:00

What a sensational month away. just got back around midnight last Friday after driving all day from Brunswick Heads.
The first two weeks in Crescent Head were very relaxing - catching up with old friends and new as we do every year. This family photo is from the wonderfully named "Delicate Nobby" beach on the way to Point Plumer

Then on to Brunswick Heads for Beach Mission (after a couple of days at Port Macquarie for Xmas). Mission, well... mission rocked. We absolutely loved it. The kids fell in love with all the 17-25 year olds on the team- we have made a lucrative offer to Ardie one of the guys to let us adopy him as an older brother for Josh. Not sure how his parents feel about it though.
Liz was in her element doing the cooking, it was great to watch. Highlight for the team was probably the day off at Mullumbimby - check out the pool with the views over the Macadamia farm.

And all the interactions with the local people were great - the band night was huge with well over a hundred people coming to see Another Day Down, a punk/emo rock band with a Christian message (check them out at www.anotherdaydown.com.au). Photo here is of our Josh with the drummer Matt - I don't Josh will ever wash that T-shirt again......

coming alongside

2005-12-02T15:30:00.000-08:00

I really like the image of a tugboat coming alongside a massive tanker or ocean liner to steer them into a port. There is something almost ludicrous about it - the tug totally dwarfed by this massive vessel, and yet they are able to hitch up for a period of time and bring them gently home to dock.
Isn't spiritual friendship the same? There is something incomparable about those times where God allows us to come alongside someone, just for a season, and help them find that place where they discover they are beloved of God. There is this massive vessel of their life - so complex and so unique, full of their stories and wounds. And then just little old me, overwhelmed, frightened and humbled by its height and width and depth. But if we can remain small as we approach their huge story, God gives us the grace to encourage, maybe even guide and steer a little. And bit by bit they get back on course, they begin to hear again that Voice that calls them beloved. And we get to bear witness to this, like a midwife seeing the miracle of birth for the tenthousandth time without its beauty ever being diminished.
my prayer is that we would all get the chance to be tugboats a lot more often.....

More on giving

2005-11-24T15:24:00.000-08:00

Quote from a North American Indian Chief:

"Once when I was in Victoria, I saw a very large house. They told me it was a bank, and that the white men place their money there to be taken care of, and that by and by they got it back, with interest. We are Indians, and we have no such bank; but when we have plenty of money or blankets, we give them away to other chiefs and people, and by and by they return them, and our hearts feel good. Our way of giving is our bank."

Source: Maquinna, Nootka chief, early 19th Century

I don't believe in tithing, but I do believe in giving...

2005-11-22T15:07:00.000-08:00

Was just posting a response at the Ranges Vineyard Blog (www.rangescc.org) and thought I would include here too. I am working through a theology for stewardship and giving currently for NorthHarbour. Two articles that have influenced me so far are Jack Helsers exposition on tithing at http://www.nextreformation.com/html/articles/tithe01.htm and Walter Brueggemann on Stewardship at http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=533

Like many voices today such as Len Sweet I don't believe we are called to an OT tithe as laid out in verses such as Malachi 3:8-10:8 and Leviticus 27:30-33. But we are called to give it all away - how this looks in Seaforth, Australia is what our little church needs to faithfully work out with fear and trembling...

Gratuitous keyword post

2005-11-20T02:04:00.000-08:00

Have been trying to track down old school friends recently, and have realised blogger is a great place to find people on the net - as long as they have enough key words in their posts such as high school, primary school workplaces etc. so thought I would make it easier for old fiends to find me by putting a post in my blog with all the relevant words. so you can pretty much ignore everything from this point on......
john chambers liz elizabeth josh joshua zoe ella jill bruce jenny jennifer sue susan 28/12/1969 december 1969 lane cove public school north sydney boys high school class of 1987 87 '87 soccer cricket skiing intervarsity macquarie university economics morling college northridge vineyard church north harbour northharbour seaforth turramurra denistone east coogee langton centre south eastern sydney area health centre anonymous syntegra first state computing advantra customer business manager telstra customer care bigpond CRM

if you can't find me with that lot you are not trying hard enough
if you have found me contact me by leaving a comment on this post or at northharbour@gmail.com

Monarch Slaves?

2005-11-20T00:35:00.000-08:00

every now and again I come across things that make me feel so naive to the evil that is present in this world. this week through a random email I received I started reading up on Monarch slaves - have you ever heard of this? if not google the term or start with a site like this http://nesara.insights2.org/Monarch.html. I have known survivors of Satanic Ritual abuse and these monarch slaves seem to be in the same ballpark, but it is hard to read this stuff without it seeming very far-fetched. but our disbelief plays right into the hands of evil. things like the Da Vinci Code and bizarre movies like Eyes Wide Shut are bringing this into the mainstream, though often in unintelligible ways - I just thought Eyes Wide Shut was an appalling, shallow movie but now realise it may have had a message along the lines of this kind of mind programming.

it has just got me thinking - but looking back over what I have written I can't believe I have a post on a mind-programming conspiracy theory, but it is more frightening to me that I would remain ignorant should this stuff be going on. so I guess this is just me saying I am opening my eyes to this, God help me be discerning.

If you are reading reply with a comment - what do you think about all this?

Retreat (post-post)

2005-11-13T02:12:00.000-08:00

Sunday night, back from retreat. Still processing lots from it - Liz and I had a great chat on the way home and uncovered some helpful things have been putting stress on our relationship at times, great to shine some light on them.
I always forget that when I go on retreat things always get tough at some point - i forget that to grow you have to break, and breaking hurts. It was great to have some real down time, enjoyed the quiet times by the river ( the pic is a rock pile that Jess built - the river was so beautiful. Wildlife everywhere - Andrew had an encounter with a red-bellied black snake, a large lizard and an echidna all during the first meditation session, but you can read his blog for details on that). I was struck again by the faithfulness required for meditation or contemplative prayer,which was our focus for the weekend. It has no objective but stillness so that God can move - so confronting in our task and objective driven worldview. I am over trying to find something profound in every experience so will leave it by saying the weekend was good, we found some community, some more of God, and we'll be back.

Retreat (pre-post)

2005-11-08T17:52:00.000-08:00

we have our community retreat this weekend - spent this morning with my spiritual director Marty Scrupe planning out the journey. Should be a great time - contemplative prayer is the theme and we will be talking plenty of time to still and soak in the things of God

Salsa

2005-11-08T17:37:00.000-08:00

We hosted the Salsa Against Poverty event last weekend. After months of sustained preparation the night was excellent, around 330 people attending and $6500 funds raised for Manado (see www.actionagainstpoverty.org.au for details). Highlights were:
- seeing people of all ages get into the latin dancing. Watching grandparents salsa with gusto while 4 an 5 year olds danced together between their legs. It felt like good inter-generational community
- the lessons and performances from Latin Dance Australia. Those guys are the best of the est and that came through on the night. Marcia's Samba class was a hit!
- showing the video of Manado and what we are trying to do with the people there, and some of the positive feedback from watchers
- hitting our funsraising target which means around 22 families in Manado will be given a hand-up and out of poverty.
Will post some photos when I have them.

Spit To Manly Walk

2005-10-28T03:44:00.000-07:00

Josh and I did the Spit to Manly Walk last weekend, first time we have done the full journey. We did it as part of the fundraising efforts for Action Against Poverty - overall the walk raised enough to lift more than 53 families in Manado, Indonesia out of poverty. check out www.actionagainstpoverty.com.au for other events coming up. Have posted some of the better photos - it is highly recommended, one of the most beautiful parts of Sydney I have ever come across. And if you head off early as we did you will catch plenty of wildlife, we saw four large lizards!

Week 3

2005-10-24T06:10:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update. Week 3 of NorthHarbour Vineyard was a beautiful thing - my friend vij made a prodigal return to worship leading and God blessedg him and all of us as a result, Gods presence was thick and has been reverberating in my life in the days since. So wonderful to come together in a community space and simply be the people of God. Great to have the Hughes back with us, and a visit from old faces and new. And my joy for labouring in the word and preaching has returned, praise God.

Despise not small beginnings

2005-10-12T05:24:00.000-07:00

Two posts in one day, this is getting out of hand!

Had a very encouraging word given to us today, as follows:

"Zechariah says “ Despise not small beginnings “ or as we might put it “ Don’t be concerned at a small start “. I can forsee a vibrant, growing and wonderful church in North Harbour filled with God’s love and power".

Great timing for this piece of encouragement - I am all to quick to despise "small" things. Ended up leading me to the story below which left me a teary mess at my desk at work:

A sobbing little girl stood near a small church from which she had been turned away because it 'was too crowded'. "I can't go to Sunday School," she sobbed to the pastor as he walked by. Seeing her shabby, unkempt appearance, the pastor guessed the reason and, taking her by the hand, took her inside and found a place for her in the Sunday school class. The child was so touched that she went to bed that night thinking of the children who have no place to worship Jesus.
Some two years later, this child lay dead in one of the poor tenement buildings and the parents called for the kind-hearted pastor, who had befriended their daughter, to handle the final arrangements. As her poor little body was being moved, a worn and crumpled purse was found which seemed to have been rummaged from some trash dump. Inside was found 57 cents and a note scribbled in childish handwriting which read, "This is to help build the little church bigger so more children can go to Sunday school." For two years she had saved for this offering of love. When the pastor tearfully read that note, he knew instantly what he would do. Carrying this note and the cracked, red pocketbook to the pulpit, he told the story of her unselfish love and devotion. He challenged his deacons to get busy and raise enough money for the larger building. But the story does not end there! A newspaper learned of the story and published it. It was read by a realtor who offered them a parcel of land worth many thousands. When told that the church could not pay so much, he offered it for a 57-cent payment. Church members made large donations. Checks came from far and wide. Within five years the little girl's gift had increased to $250,000.00 - a huge sum for that time (near the turn of the century). Her unselfish love had paid large dividends.
When you are in the city of Philadelphia, look up Temple Baptist Church, with a seating capacity of 3,300, and Temple University, where hundreds of students are trained. Have a look; too, at the Good Samaritan Hospital and at a Sunday school building which houses hundreds of Sunday scholars, so that no child in the area will ever need to be left outside at Sunday school time.
In one of the rooms of this building may be seen the picture of the sweet face of the little girl whose 57 cents, so sacrificially saved, made such remarkable history. Alongside of it is a portrait of her kind pastor, Dr. Russel H. Conwell, author of the book, "Acres of Diamonds." - a true story.

First Meeting

2005-10-12T05:15:00.000-07:00

I have been so slack in blogging. All energy has been focussed on preparing for our first sunday meeting as NorthHarbour Vineyard Church, which was last Sunday. It was a day of mixed emotions for me - great to se all our wonderful friends who came to visit for the day, alongside our new friends who we are building this church with. The time of worship was special - God's presence was dense, I felt my knees were going to literally buckle beneath me as we poured out praises to Him. And yet I was full of anxiety and apprehension as well. More than once I thought - can I really do this every Sunday for years on end? Through the exhaustion I also found it difficult to focus and deliver a clear message on the day.

All in all though a special start, and despite feelings of inadequacy I am more sure than ever that God is afoot amongst our little community.

Spiritual Direction

2005-07-30T15:18:00.000-07:00

I am off again next weekend to my residential course in Spiritual Direction. It is my 3rd weekend session of a total of 16 over years. It has been great so far, I would really recommend it to anyone looking to become a director or soul companion to other people, or become a retreat director or something similar. Even just to further your own spiritual formation. Details can be found at:
http://www.stjohnsmorpeth.com/Spiritual%20Direction%20and%20Retreats.htm

What is the grace I seek

2005-07-27T06:28:00.000-07:00

I have entered into a Spiritual Direction relationship with a director in the Ignation tradition - an answer to prayer for me. Currently I am reflecting on what I am seeking from the relationship - in Ignation terms we start any intentional journey - whether a direction relationship or a single prayer session - by being clear on "what is the grace I seek". So many good intentions have come to mind which I won't bore you with, but at its essence I think it comes down to this - I seek a space where I can learn, be encouraged and be accountable to surrender my time to God, such that his will may be fully expressed. Time to pray, time to write, time to reflect, time to act. This is the time He wants, to make my life fully His.

simple acts

2005-07-27T06:17:00.000-07:00

I so enjoyed our gathering tonight - a simple meal interspersed with gathering together items into simple grocery parcels, hoping God might allow us to be a blessing somewhere in our community. One story has especially inspired me in how to be a servant, I have reproduced it below (lifted from a Gordon Moyes sermon). John Landy's act was so authentic, so natural that it can only be the act of a servant heart. I pray our hearts would be likewise prepared - always willing to set aside our personal race to lift up someone who has fallen beside us....

"When I was a young athlete, the greatest Australian athlete was John Landy. Every second week during the summers 1952 and 1953 I watched Landy attempt to break the four minute mile. Incidentally, on Thursday night I met with Sir Christopher Chatterway, who with Roger Banister was in the first four minute mile in 1953. There were powerful runners in those days. But there was no one in those days of the stature of John Landy. He became the world champion miler in 1954, None was faster week after week in the world over the mile and three miles than John Landy. Ron Clarke already held the Australian and World Junior Mile record. As we came close to the Olympic Games everybody was looking to John Landy to set a new world record. The greatest race I've ever seen in my life was at the 1956 National Championships in Melbourne. I was along the side fence inside a crowd of 22,000 people when the entrants lined up for the start of the 1956 National Mile Championship. Everyone knew that if John Landy got a fast start in the early part of the race he would set a new world record. We were all wanting Landy to run and win. When the gun went off the young men each representing their states sped to the first turn and at the end of the first lap Robbie Morgan-Morris had completed the first quarter mile in 59 seconds, followed by Ron Clarke, Alec Henderson, John Plummer and then John Landy. The time was right on target for a world record. At the half mile Robbie Morgan-Morris was still leading and the time was two minutes two seconds. At the start of the third lap young Ron Clarke and Landy moved forward at a cracking pace. The world record was on!
Landy jumps over Clarke
Landy had only to go with him and a new world record would be in his grasp. Then occurred an event which is etched into my mind so clearly that I can see it being replayed as if in slow motion. I can never think of the event without my eyes filling with tears. Clarke was moving to the lead as they came into the corner on the third lap. John Landy was on his shoulder. Alec Henderson tried to squeeze between the two runners and the inside edge of the curb. In doing so Clarke, with his spikes, clipped his heel. Clarke sprawled forward onto the cinder track while Henderson was knocked onto the inside arena. Landy leaped over the falling body of Clarke in front of him and as he did his sharp spikes tore into the flesh of Clarke's shoulder. The whole field either jumped over Clarke or ran round him. The crowd which had been chanting "Landy, Landy, Landy, Landy" with every stride suddenly responded with an enormous gasp. Landy then did the most incredibly stupid, beautiful, foolish, gentlemanly act I have ever seen. He stopped, ran back to the fallen young Ron Clarke and helped him up to his feet, brushed cinders from knees and checking his bloodied shoulder said "Sorry". Clarke was all right. He said to Landy "Keep going, I'm all right. Run! Run!". Landy had forgotten everything. The Australian mile title, his bid for a world record, even the approaching Olympic Games in a spontaneous gesture of sportsmanship. Clarke got to his feet and together Landy and Clarke set off after the other runners. They were 60 yards behind the rest of the field which had kept on running and the crowd did not expect them to continue. John Plummer, Merv Lincoln and Alec Henderson were leading the pack. Clarke and Landy sprinted off on that last half mile.
The crowd was shouting as with every stride Landy hauled in the front runners. He quickly ran round the rest of the field, came into the home straight leaving Clarke behind with the most powerful finish I have ever seen in my life. He stormed down the track and in the last ten yards passed Henderson and Lincoln to win the Australian Championship in four minutes, four seconds. I doubt if there has ever been a reception given an athlete in all of history as those 22,000 people gave Gentlemen John Landy that day. The cheers and the applause would not die down. It continued minute after minute as Landy completed a victory lap. There was no question he could have set a new world record that day. Stopping and going back, picking up Clarke and then running back over his tracks had cost him eight or ten seconds. But it also unleashed in him a finish that was beyond anything that we had ever seen before. We had seen the greatest mile race in history. Landy was to go on and set new world records and become a hero at the 1956 Olympic Games but nothing compares with the race that summer night in the Melbourne Olympic Park in 1956 when he stopped, picked up young Ron Clarke and forgot himself into athletic immortality. "

Faith expressing itself through love

2005-07-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

A couple of good interactions over the last couple of days have brought Galations 5:6 into focus for me. Our little community has started to check in with each other, regularly and randomly, to discuss our spiritual lives and the challenges we have - basically informal spiritual direction or companioning. Had a great discussion as a result of this lastFriday night - felt for much of the conversation as though I wasn't expressing anything of truth or great depth, but as we hung in there with the conversation a wonderful revelation came through - we compared the signs that accompany believers in Mark's version of the commission at 16:17 (which is not recognised canon for many folk) with Matthew 7:21 where Jesus says those that prophesied, exorcised and performed miracles in his name (essentially the same signs as in Mark 16) will not enter the kingdom unless they do the will of the Father. A simple parallel that leads me to reflect on the things we do - we must first be deeply in his will to be certain they are the things he has ordained. As in Galations 5:6 we start with faith, then express it as love-infused works, which again strengthens faith as on we go. Nice....

First Post

2005-07-23T03:10:00.000-07:00

Just kicking off this blog as we are setting up our new website. As a small emerging church our group has just committed to moving to a public meeting in October this year. My intent is to use this blog as my journal to process and capture the journey.
peace john