What does a school chaplain do?

Here's a simple sign I put in my room and display for teachers as well. This is adapted from the SU role description. I've simplified the language enough for teachers. Still working on making it even simpler for my high school students. I'll post it here when I've got it.

What does a chaplain do?
1. Support students exploring their spiritual beliefs and worldviews.
2. Provide pastoral care for students and be a role model to them.
3. Participate in general activities in the life of the school.
4. Engage with local churches and community groups.
5. Participate with students in outside school events/programs.

Women and the Church

I recently had the pleasure of being the guest speaker at another church, and in conversation with one of the elders afterwards (while sipping the usual Nescafé Blend 43 and eating an iced vovo) I discovered that they don't allow women to preach. Now before I go any further, it's worth making a very strong note that I am not going to lay out what I think on the matter in this very short article, nor give a theological treatise on the topic. My intention is just to open up the topic, so that you intelligent readers can have the conversations, because I believe it's an important conversation to have.

Now a few observations. First, without going into any of the details, it needs to be said that the culture in first century Palestine where the church first started is not the same as the culture of 21st Century Australia. With that in mind, the answers the New Testament church came up with to various questions (including this one) may not always fit as snugly in our world today. Whatever answers we come up with today (to any of the "how to" questions) need to reflect both the way of Jesus and the needs of our own culture. I'll leave you to nut that one out.

Secondly, it might be worth pointing out that women feature much more in the New Testament than people usually suppose. Jesus' official twelve disciples may have been men, but there were also at least a handful of key women who seem to have been very supportive of Jesus - some scholars even suggest they may have been providing financial support to his missions.

Now look at the conversations. Through the gospels on almost every occasion the general impression is that most people - including the twelve - basically had no idea of what Jesus was on about. Yet there are at least two significant recorded occasions where Jesus seems to be impressed that someone actually got what he was saying... both times with women (John 4, Mark 7).

Fast-forward to Good Friday, where all of his followers have run away in fear. Wait, all? No, not all.

"Some women were there, watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James the younger and of Joseph), and Salome. They had been followers of Jesus and had cared for him while he was in Galilee. Many other women who had come with him to Jerusalem were also there." (Mark 15:40-41)

And they stayed with him, following when his body was taken down from the cross, to see where it would be placed. Then as soon as the sabbath ended and shops opened they purchased spices to prepare his body. Everyone knows the rest of the story. Sunday morning the women were there at the crack of dawn and were the first to discover that Jesus was alive - and not only that, but it seems they believed it before any of the men. They rushed back to tell the disciples (and where were the disciples? Hiding in a room). In the meantime, the resurrected Jesus thought it important to make a short stop off on his way back to the Father to have his first conversation, with who? Mary Magdalene. Read it again and notice how much women feature in this the climax of the story. In a male-dominated culture, what do you think this said?

It doesn't end with the gospels. In a culture filled with male leaders, the early church features a significant number of key women as well. At the end of his letter to the believers in Colossae, Paul writes, "Please give my greetings to our brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church that meets in her house." At the end of Romans: "I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deacon in the church in Cenchrea. Welcome her in the Lord as one who is worthy of honor among God’s people. Help her in whatever she needs, for she has been helpful to many, and especially to me. Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus. In fact, they once risked their lives for me. I am thankful to them, and so are all the Gentile churches. Also give my greetings to the church that meets in their home.... Give my greetings to Mary, who has worked so hard for your benefit." Women play significant roles and feature in prominent places right through the New Testament. It seems that the early church had no problems with women in influential roles.

What about your church? Does it show the significance of both genders in its organisation and leadership? Are there any "rules" in place (even unspoken ones) that might need to be reconsidered? Could your church benefit from some more feminine creativity?

Recently I've been hearing a fair bit about how previously male-dominated fields - such as science and technology - are discovering just how much women can add to the conversation. Personally I would like to see the church leading this charge, and benefitting just as much from the new and fresh ways of thinking that women can bring.

Over to you.

Swearing

I had an interesting little conversation the other day with a couple of students in my chaplaincy room.

I overheard one of the students telling his friend, "Ben's not allowed to swear because he's a chaplain. That's like a pastor."

I've heard this kind of thing quite a bit in my life. When I was in high school myself, one of my mates picked up that I was a Christian, and from that point on whenever he swore and I was anywhere nearby he always apologised to me straightaway. "Oh sorry Ben." No matter how many times I told him it didn't bother me.

Thankfully the people at my school now don't feel the need to protect me from nasty words.

So anyway, when the student in my room told his mate that I wasn't allowed to swear, I piped up, "Actually the Bible doesn't say we're not allowed to swear," I said.

"Doesn't it?" He was surprised.

"Nope, there's nothing in there at all about swearing."

I let him think about it for a few seconds, then said "It does say that we should be kind to others though, and a lot of people find swearing offensive. So if you're around people who find it offensive, Jesus would say don't do it."

"Oh yeah." He got it I think. I wanted him to think about the why, not just the what. Following Jesus is not a set of rules - a point that even a lot of Christians don't get.

This is one of the key differences between high school and primary school chaplaincy. Younger kids respond best to rules - bite-sized bits of information: don't swear, clean up your room, be kind to others, look out for the kids who don't have any friends, listen to the teacher, stay in line etc. With teenagers we're helping them to become adults, so they need to start thinking through these things. Eg. "Some people find swearing offensive so make sure you think about the people you're around." Or someone mucking up in class, "Understand that your teachers are trying to help you learn - they're not against you. They're doing all this because they care about you. Do you want to get smarter? Do you want to pass the test? Do you think there might be a way for you to help some of the other kids?"

With teenagers (and young adults), questions are more important than answers, and it's good to throw a spanner in the works if it gets them to think about something they've heard instead of just accepting it. This is even more important when it comes to their own faith.

THINK

I stole this from another chaplain's room and thought it was worth sharing.

Facebook Makes You Sad

According to this Sydney Morning Herald article. It's worth checking out. I posted it on Facebook too, but sadly no one liked it.

How to Evangelise Without Evangelising

One of the electives at conference today was on how to be a spiritual support in your school. There are so many questions around this topic that I get the feeling we could have talked all day. What are we allowed to do? What are we not allowed to do? What's in our job description? What does the government say is in our job description? And it gets even trickier when you start bringing up specific situations.

As far as the government is concerned, chaplains are in schools to be a spiritual support to the students. However we have our hands tied a bit. There's a long list of things we can't do, like evangelising or proselytising (what is that again?). It's a topic that's been drilled in so often that you can start to feel a bit like a chef who's not allowed in the kitchen. Or like a black knight with no arms or legs. It's fair enough too. We want non-Christian people to be comfortable with us in schools. I have an atheist mate who has some very strong reservations about school chaplaincy and I completely understand why.

But there's also a lot we CAN do, and it's brilliant that we have the opportunity. Here's how I look at it, and I hope you find this helpful as well....

A few years ago some friends of mine in a simple home church decided to go through the four gospels and try to find out what Jesus actually wants us to do. If we're meant to be living Jesus' way, they asked - following Jesus, trying to be "little Christs," - well what actually is that way? What did Jesus actually tell people to do?

So this group went through all the things Jesus said (all the red letter passages) and took note every time Jesus told his followers to do something. It was quite a long list when they finished, but as they started to take out the repetitions and collate the similar phrases, in the end it all boiled down to seven ideas. Seven things that Jesus wants us to do. This is the way of Jesus right here. Ready? Here they are.

Love your neighbour.

Love your enemies.

Trust God (eg "don't worry about tomorrow").

Follow the Spirit (or "receive the spirit").

Hold your possessions loosely.

Reform yourself, not others ("take the plank out of your own eye...").

Be humble.

If people are doing those seven things then they are living Jesus' way. This is what it means to be a Christian.

And here's the helpful bit for chaplaincy. As I look at that list there are really only two that I can't push much in schools: trust God and follow the Spirit. The other five I can preach everywhere, to anyone, as much as I like. I can tell students that they should love their neighbour and no one will stop me. I can speak strongly about how important it is to be generous, and everyone will agree. At the moment there is a lot of discussion about refugees in Australia. I can have significant conversations with students about how we should treat all people with dignity and compassion wherever they're from - and what I'm actually doing without anyone knowing is echoing Jesus' words to love your enemies.

Five out of seven's pretty fantastic if you ask me. We can essentially help people to become quite a bit like Jesus without them even knowing it. These five ideas are well-respected in our culture (and most others) even if they're not lived out by many people. We just have to affirm them and demonstrate how to do it. And that's all before saying anything about God.

So don't feel that you can't say anything. You can actually say quite a lot of Jesus' message AND help people to start living it. There's of course a lot more to the good news than that, but I think it's a pretty huge head start.

Hope you find that helpful!

The Four Spaces of Belonging

Here's something I've found helpful for thinking about mission, networks, relationships and community: The Four Spaces of Belonging. The ideas come from Joseph Myers' book "The Search to Belong," about the ways that people connect. And here they are....

First there is the Public Space. This is a large-scale shared experience, where you feel you are part of a great number of people on the same wavelength, but you are still free to remain anonymous if you choose. E.g. A shared worship experience in a big church, a footy game, a movie theatre, a forum for Commodore or Mac owners, St Paddy's Day...

Next is Social Space. This is where we cluster around a common interest or focus (e.g. a BBQ, local pub, workplace, school event, party or function). Here you connect on a superficial level, sharing snapshots of yourself - who I am, what I enjoy, where I live, where I work... This is a natural space to be introduced to new people, ideas, invites - a great springboard to the other spaces.

A little more intimate is our Personal Space. This is a smaller group of our friends and family, close work colleagues, mums group, etc. Here we know each other well and share more privately, reflect together on faith, share our lives, pray for one another, care for one another. Jesus had this connection with his twelve disciples.

And finally there is our Intimate Space. This is only shared with a few people - our spouse and one or two close friends. These people know us as we really are - the good and the ugly. In this space we feel safe and secure to share the naked truth about ourselves, what we think, what we struggle with - the deepest parts of ourselves. Jesus shared some things only with his closest friends - Peter, James and John.

The idea is that healthy community is a combination of all of these spaces, not just the deep, intimate ones. So you're in danger if you're connecting in the public space but not anywhere more personal. And you're also missing out if you connect in deep intimate relationships but avoid larger settings where you might run in to new people.

Churches have tended to view the deep, personal settings (like accountability groups, one-to-one discipleship and mentoring) as the places where spiritual growth happens and so have worked to push people towards the inner spaces. Myers calls us to value each of the four spaces equally and recognise that God is active in shaping us at every level.

What about you? Which spaces do you feel most comfortable? Are there any that you're missing out on? What changes could you make so you can find a sense of belonging at every level?

Our Church: Small and Simple

If we can't fit in a home, we'll start another group.

Small, simple groups have many advantages over big congregations (which is why big congregations work hard to get everyone into a small group!). Here are just a few....

Community. It's easier in a small group to get to know the other people, do life together, and look out for each other. Small is easier for food and conversation. Small groups grow community more naturally – you don't have to work so hard on community; the struggle is trying to avoid it! You can't go unnoticed in a small group - you are involved whether you like it or not. Small church becomes like a family or team more easily than an organisation.

Simplicity. Practically, small, simple churches have many advantages over more complicated ones. They are much easier to start up, sustain and adapt. Many more people could run a home group than could run a big church, which means we could potentially grow many more churches by using simple church thinking. Pastors of big churches have to be extraordinary. The bigger the church, the more exceptional the pastor must be, and if a pastor finishes up, it can take months to find someone else for the role. Simple churches, on the other hand, can be run by more everyday people, because there are no teams, programs, strategies, administration, services, sermons or staff to worry about. Any problems can be worked out by the group together, with extra wisdom from outside experts wherever needed. And small groups are much more flexible if changes are required. These are some of the reasons why simple church expressions might be an effective way forward for the church in Australia.

Mission. This flexibility means that small churches can more easily reflect the surrounding culture, work their way into existing communities and influence them from the inside out. Smaller groups can connect more individually with people outside the church, although this generally happens more slowly. Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed, which slowly grows into a not-particularly-large weed-like bush that is very difficult to get rid of and tends to pop up all over the place.

Large churches with many ministries require many people to keep them running, and the best church members gradually spend more and more of their time on the church community (services, home groups, playgroups, music teams, camps, leadership, youth/men's/women's/children's ministry and so on) - which can sometimes lead to spending less time with the non-church people in their life. Simple church recognizes that everyone is already a part of various communities (work, school, uni, mums groups, sports teams) and we try to encourage members to connect with the people in these communities better, to be Jesus where they already are.

Our church has only one official get-together a week, so as to make room for real life: dinners, coffees, BBQs, sports, picnics, family days, school prayer groups, fishing, community festivals, watching the footy, and so on....

Discipleship. Churches have for many years recognised that discipleship happens best in small group settings where there is space for conversation. People grow at different rates and God is doing something different in everybody's life, and the best discipleship adapts to these changes as they come. A small group conversation allows for personal questions (try sticking your hand up during a sermon to clarify something or offer a different perspective!) and provides the space to relate Jesus' message and way of life to people's individual lives - to their particular work setting, family environment, personality, skill set and to their own dreams for the world.

There are just a few to whet your appetite.

Technology makes us lazy

A mate of mine recently pointed out that iPads are being used more and more in school classrooms these days. He didn't like the idea at all and said that he reckons technology makes us lazy. He also reckoned that kids will miss a lot because the iPad does so much for them, like spelling, writing and maths. I've got a few thoughts on the topic that I'll post in the next week or so, but what do you think?

Does technology make us lazy? Should it be used less in the education of our kids?

Rain, gluey kids and simple church

I don't know if you've ever tried to have a conversation with someone in the middle of a kids festival before. Strangely enough I've found myself in this situation quite a few times - twice even in the last week. The first time wasn't planned though. It was meant to be a relaxing conversation with a friend at the peaceful Powerhouse cafe overlooking the Brisbane River. Turned out the Powerhouse was in the middle of their big school holiday festival. Look out for it next time if you've got primary-aged kids. Give it a miss if you want a quiet conversation. And maybe check the weather too, like we didn't.

Still, in between dodging little kids with gluey hands and trying to stop the rain from diluting our cappuccinos, we managed to have a conversation worthy of the cheerleader tag. The gentleman I met with has been involved in starting a simple church group over the last year or so. When I say "simple church" I mean it doesn't have organised services or paid staff. It's a small group of people who are keen to follow Jesus and are flexible in how that might look for them. Actually, sometimes I wonder if "simple" might be a bit misleading. My church lately has been having quite a few of our Jesus conversations in amongst rain and gluey kids.

The group that my Powerhouse friend belongs to call themselves "The Assembly of Grapes," which in itself is telling.

There are a few of these around and they all look different depending on the people in the group. One of the key aims of Postcard Radio (the people I work with) is to find these simple church groups and support them however we can. It can feel lonely in these small groups sometimes, especially for leaders. It's a different way of operating than the normal church way and sometimes you can feel like a bit of a lone ranger. There are a lot of people on this journey though, and some really good ideas are being tried and experimented with. We'd like to help pass around some of these ideas and stories if we can.

If you are in a simple church group in QLD, please let us know! We'd love to know what groups are around - so we can support and encourage the groups and facilitators, and also to help individuals connect in with some of these like-minded people.

On a different note to finish, here's something that stuck in my head from my rain-soaked friend last week: "I think that much of the time the church is answering questions that the community isn't asking. We need to spend more time listening to people. Like the catholic priest who started out his ministry by setting up a couple of chairs at the local shopping centre, and just sat there. Most of the time he sat by himself, but when some crisis events happened people were lining up to talk."

Listen to your neighbourhood, like Michael Frost talked about in the last video I posted. Sit there. Have the coffees. Get amongst the families and kids. Find out the questions people are really asking.

Listen to your neighbourhood!

Here's a clip well worth a watch. Michael Frost talking about mission in the neighbourhood.

State of Origin and the Gospel

Just to preempt those sermons being prepared for this Sunday: the State of Origin is not like the kingdom of heaven.

Over to you, commenters.

Review: Sherlock Holmes and the Needle's Eye

I've often wished to be in a situation where someone might shout desperately "If only there were a theologian nearby!" And I could step up and modesty say "I am one. Maybe I can help." But I suppose that may never happen in real life. Ah well, much the pity.

I got to experience this a little while reading "Sherlock Holmes and the Needle's Eye" though. In this fiction book (provided by booksneeze.com) Holmes and Watson have procured a time machine which they use to travel backwards in history and solve ten Bible mysteries. There are discussion questions for each mystery at the end so groups can try to solve it before reading the solution. At various points as Sherlock and Dr Watson are deliberating I almost wished I was present so I could say "Oh I know that one!" But alas.

The book is clever. It's interesting to see some of the Bible events from a first-person perspective, like David and Goliath. And I enjoyed the banter between Holmes, the doctor and Mrs Watson. At some points it can get a little preachy, where the author is trying to teach theology at the same time. It feels less like the real Holmes and Watson at these points, but I see what the author is trying to do. Actually, I'd like to read a non-religious Sherlock Holmes book from this author. I like his style of writing. He captures the fun and intelligence of the characters brilliantly.

There are a couple of apocalyptic-style events that the author includes which feel really out of place. Even in the Bible I don't believe these are meant to be seen as happening in real life. And some of the "mysteries" are not quite as fascinating as Holmes' usual fare (eg "Why did Paul start his second missionary journey in Phillipi?" Why oh why). All in all I found it entertaining though.

There'll be a lot of church people who will like this book. But I wouldn't give it to non-Christian friends.

Review: Dirty God

I just finished "Dirty God," by Johnnie Moore, generously provided by BookSneeze.com. The book is all about grace and it's written in two parts: "Getting Grace" and "Giving Grace."

I loved the first part. The author writes so poetically, explaining with clarity and passion what God has done for us, leaving behind the riches and control of heaven to move into our neighbourhood. As Moore puts it...

"Jesus didn’t keep his distance from the messy world that he descended into when he left heaven’s golden streets for earth’s dusty Middle Eastern villages, filled to capacity with the poor and frustrated, the disenfranchised and the rejected. Jesus didn’t revel in his priceless glory—rather, he gave himself completely to the opportunity to make the inglorious feel that they mattered to God.”

It's amazing grace, and it's not just for the best of us. Jesus chose to spend all of his time with everyday people - people from small fishing towns, not the big city. Ordinary people, not superstars, not overly smart, spiritual, or even ambitious. The grace God gives us is for anyone.

I reckon this book should have been two books. The second half is good too, but it kind of moves the book in a different direction and offers a bit more of the author's own perspectives on what everyday life should look like for us. I would rather if those questions ("How can we pass this grace on?" etc) were woven into the first part of the book and not answered as much, so that the whole thing remains focused on God's grace and the practical questions of everyday life are left open for readers to answer themselves.

Just my thoughts. Well worth a read anyway.

The Army

Imagine you have just completed training to be a lifesaver on QLD beaches. It comes to your first day on the job and you are looking forward to rescuing people who are struggling in the surf. But instead of supplying you with floatation devices and an inflatable rescue boat, your instructor gives you... a gun.

It seems to me this is close to the situation we have with our army, although vastly simplified. I've had many conversations about war and the defense force before, and often I've heard people say "but they're really doing aid work, rebuilding, protecting families, keeping the peace." To which I say "Brilliant, but if that's what they're doing, why all the weapons and military training?"

When that's your training and those are the resources most readily at your fingertips, peacemaking options and creative solutions also become very limited. Imagine if we only gave lifesavers a gun? I would guess that deaths on beaches would escalate and there would be a lot less rescues.

Now dream with me. What if all the money spent on our defense force was spent instead on nonviolent aid instead? What if all the time spent training these millions of people for the military was spent training them for humanitarian work? What if the brilliant minds at the top were enlisted to find creative nonviolent ways to organise nations, creative nonviolent ways to work through conflict and threat, and creative nonviolent ways to bring world peace?

I'm convinced we COULD have world peace if more nations started thinking like this. It wouldn't even need to be all of them.

Feeling Guilty About the Crusades

Every Friday afternoon during the last period of the school week I find myself helping out in a year 8 class discussing history. I assist this entertaining group of students a few times each week (one of the various things I do as a chaplain), but for some reason Friday afternoon history is my favourite.

Last week as the lesson began I learned that the topic they were learning about was the Crusades. A brief explanation in case you were doodling and passing notes in year 8 history....

As per my recently refreshed knowledge thanks to Mrs Caple, the Crusades were religious wars fought by Christians against (mostly) Muslims between the 11th and 16th centuries with the aim to recover Jerusalem and the surrounding area ("the holy land"). Jerusalem was important to both sides for religious reasons. The Pope kicked it off, the Catholic Church repeated the call and the kings dutifully led their armies out (at this point the Catholic Church had a huge amount of power, even and especially with the monarchy). Several hundred thousand soldiers responded, some for glory, some for adventure, and many for more basic reasons: they would be fed. It was a violent and dark time in history, and the "Christian" church were the main perpetrators.

As the lesson began - well aware that my chaplain hat was unavoidably atop my noggin - I thought to myself "This could be awkward."

As a pastor and as a Christian I've had many conversations with non-Christian folk where I've tried to explain how good and worthwhile Christianity is - how great it would be and what an amazingly different world we'd have if more people lived Jesus' way.

"Well, what about the Crusades then?" people have replied. That was a time in history, they point out, where entire nations were "Christian" and yet took it upon themselves to slaughter everyone else (not just Muslims). It's a pretty crushing response and it's been very difficult in these conversations to find anything else to say. Even though it was hundreds of years ago in a medieval world, I've felt a fair bit of guilt over this dark part of history.

There has been a lot of church-bashing going on in the last few decades and the Crusades is one of the more well-worn blunt instruments.

Recently at a pastors conference that I attended, one of the speakers (who'd had similar conversations with his buddies) encouraged us to take the humble approach: although it wasn't us fighting those wars, we need to own up to it and just wear it because we wear the Christian name. (Similar to how our prime minister Kevin Rudd said sorry to all indigenous Australians on behalf of... who exactly?)

I think humility is definitely the right course of action whatever we do, but I also believe that in this instance that answer might actually prove to be a little unhelpful. Here's an illustration....

This week the Australian Rugby League State of Origin is on, for which I'm a very proud Queensland supporter. Suppose that in a club somewhere on Wednesday night a drunken fight breaks out over a dodgy ref's call and a QLD supporter leaves a NSW fan in a coma. Should I then hang my head in shame for the rest of my life because like that drunken thug I also support Queensland?

Or suppose it was discovered that during the world wars of last century one of the secret Nazi organisations devoted to wiping out the "inferior" races was code-named World Vision. Should today's World Vision aid organisation hang its head in shame and wear the wrongs of that Nazi group?

Or suppose someone was to steal my identity and then under my name start up a crack-dealing crime syndicate. Should I then go and apologise to anyone who's affected? "It was all done under my name. I'm so sorry for ruining your life. I'm heading to the cops now so they can lock me away." Of course not. That would be ridiculous. Once it was established that someone was using my identity I'd be perfectly in the clear. "It was just somebody using Ben's name."

I think you get it. Jesus himself said once "You can tell a tree by its fruit." If you go to Bunnings and buy a lemon tree and find out later that it grows oranges, it doesn't mean you should call David Attenborough because you've discovered an amazing new variety of lemon tree. It means someone at Bunnings put the wrong tag on the tree. If it grows oranges, it's an orange tree.

Although the Crusades were fought under the "Christian" name, they were nothing at all like Christ. They were in fact pretty much the exact opposite of Jesus. Jesus was a compassionate, inclusive and accepting, humble man devoted to peace. While many of his fellow Jews wanted to stage a violent military revolution against the oppressing Romans, Jesus taught about sacrificial love, unrelenting grace and above all he painted a vision of a future world that could include everyone, free of pain and heartache, violence and corruption.

The word "Christian" literally means "little Christ." It was originally given to Jesus' followers in the first century because people looked at them and thought "These people are just like Jesus."

Last week in that year 8 history class, I found that I don't feel guilt anymore when someone talks about the Crusades. Because to me, those soldiers, those kings and the violent, power-hungry "church" were not Christians at all. They were not "little Christs." They were not like Jesus at all. I similarly disown the violent and racist "Christian" groups of modern-day times. There are a lot of "Christians" in the world but a lot fewer people who actually look like Jesus.

Don't look at the tag. You can tell a tree by its fruit.

TEAR: A Vision of the Kingdom

The apostle Peter was married with children

I was privileged to do a baby dedication (plus first birthday celebration) a few weeks back for a friend of mine, and at the morning tea afterwards I found myself in a bizarre theological discussion with an old retired minister. During the dedication I'd talked about how much God cares for children, using Psalm 127:3, "Children are a gift from the Lord." The old minister let me know that what I had said was true (phew) and went on to list a few more references I could have used. I find this kind of thing happens a bit after preaching.

"Oh and of course the 18th chapter of Matthew," he went on (because since I am a pastor I would obviously know the exact passage that he was referring to. We ministers have most of the Bible memorised, in case you weren't aware...).

"Sure," I said, knowing he would elaborate.

"Yes, when the disciples are arguing over who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus calls over a little child and says, 'Anyone who wants to be great in the kingdom has to become like a little child.'"

"Oh yes," I said, as I remembered the story. At the same time I was thinking that this particular passage might be a bit of an obscure way to show that God cared about children, but we were at a one-year-old's birthday party so I didn't really want to get into a theological discussion. At this point I was just smiling and nodding.

But the minister wasn't finished.

"Now think about this," he said. "If I were to call over one of the kids here, the only reason they would come to me is if they already knew me, right?"

"Ok," said I, noncommittally.

"So obviously," he said, "Jesus had already developed a relationship with this child. He'd spent the time getting to know them, probably years. The child obviously knew Jesus well."

Finally following his line of thought I ventured, "Ah I never thought about that. Maybe it was a child of one of Jesus' followers, one of the disciples maybe?"

The old minister nailed it home then: "It was Peter's child." Said with absolutely no doubt or room for questions.

"Oh right," I said with even less commitment.

"Peter was the only disciple to be married, and therefore the only one with kids. It was Peter's child Jesus called over."

I politely backed out of the conversation. As I walked away chuckling to myself inwardly, my mirth gradually turned sour as I contemplated the tragic use of the Bible I'd just experienced. This was clearly reading something into the text that was not there. Fortunately in this instance it was more humorous than harmful, but if the minister was that cavalier with his exegesis of this passage, what other passages had been similarly mangled? Over the many years of ministry, through hundreds of sermons to attentive listeners. And probably what troubled me most was not the tenuous leaps he'd made in his theology, but the way he then spoke his interpretation as absolute fact. "It was Peter's child."

It's all a bit scary really.

Pastors, please be careful with your Bible reading, because people are listening. People, please don't just accept everything you hear from the pulpit. Check it out for yourself. Pastors can make mistakes too, even and especially the ones who seem to have no questions or uncertainty themselves.

This guy deserves a mention

Dorothy's Story

40 Hour Famine 2013 | You are Dorothy from worldvisionaus on Vimeo.

The word "church"

"Nowhere in the New Testament do we find the word “church” referring to a building."

- "Grow" by Winfield Bevins

Do the 40hr Famine with me!

A Bit About Preaching

Here's a small portion of an interview I found a while back. Mike is a pastor who developed the LifeShapes material for spiritual growth, and it's well worth checking out the ideas if you're a church leader and haven't heard of them before. I was interested in this bit for what it said about preaching and discipleship though.

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Aidan: I’ve heard you say before not to teach LifeShapes in a sermon series. Why do you feel so strongly about that?

Mike: From my personal experience and watching other pastors, I’ve seen that if you do a sermon series with it or teach it all the time, people naturally categorize it as more information to be forgotten. Unfortunately, people rarely remember what we say in a sermon. I think they say the average person can remember most of the points from one sermon a year. The point is that this isn’t random information from scripture, this is spiritual formation language and is meant to be used, not stored.

I’ve found it much more helpful to introduce it in Huddles, which is a discipling context with 4-10 people. As people are discussing about what God is saying to them and you give them an insight to their specific situation, they respond, “How were you able to apply that particular truth?” As we know, Truth sets us free, but we then want to know how we can set other people free! “Teach me to do that!”

For too long we’ve seen, sometimes foolishly, I think, discipleship as the impartation or reception of information rather than what scripture and the great saints of our history have said it was: Imitation of someone’s life.

So principally, LifeShapes were made to fulfill the principle design of Jesus: Discipleship.

Visiting a Buddhist Temple

We did something a little different for church last Sunday. This month's Big Year theme (check out abigyear.net) is "Reform Yourself, Not Others" and one of the challenges is to go to a different church or religious group to see what you can learn from them. Our church and Big Year crew went to a Buddhist temple. There's an amazing complex on Underwood Rd in Springwood that is a temple and Buddhist school as well. It's already large and will double in size when stage two is complete.

As we waited for others in our group to arrive, we talked with the kids about the need to be quiet and respectful when we go in. One of my mates said, "Ben I think it's probably not appropriate to expose yourself in a Buddhist temple."

"What?"

"Your fly's undone."

"Ah." Good start Ben.

It's definitely worth checking out if you're in Brisbane and haven't been already. They were very welcoming and let us walk around and have a look wherever we wanted. There were beautiful gardens, peaceful prayer spaces, signs everywhere to tell us what was going on and what Buddhism is about, a nice little cafe, an art gallery and some amazing architecture. It was a perfect autumn Sunday morning and there was a chanting service happening and big groups of people doing tai chi on the lawns. Actually there were quite a number of people there - many older, quite a few young people - and even with so many people it was still such a peaceful place. I actually really enjoyed the experience and I can see why people are gravitating to Buddhism (comments like this worry my father-in-law).

Afterwards our group went to Maccas for a coffee and a chat, and to unleash the kids. In order to include the kids a little in the conversation we sat at tables inside the children's play area, and the atmosphere was a fairly big contrast to the serenity of the temple. The key idea that came through at the temple was PEACE - from the attitudes of the people to the layout of the grounds, the simplicity of the art and the... absence of children? We agreed that if you were to walk into most Christian churches, the idea of peace probably wouldn't come out like this. It's generally a lot messier and noisier in churches - especially in our home church. I think that's ok though, because I think the main idea that we want to come across in our own gatherings is LOVE. Does it though? That's a question for every church to ask themselves. If we don't have peace and we also don't have love are we like Jesus at all?

I asked the group what they thought are the key ideas behind western culture and one of them said, "This right here: Maccas. Noise, greed, money spent on ourselves." Accumulation, achievement, success, gain. It's clear we could learn a lot from Buddhists. Even the ability to stop, be still, be quiet, rest and listen is something we desperately need to learn - something that Buddhism does very well. Another is contentment. One of the themes I picked up from the signs around the place was the idea that we should make peace with whatever circumstances we find ourselves in - success or hardship.

Being a school chaplain, I've heard a lot about the debate over whether or not chaplains should be in schools. There's a lot to it, but if the future went in this direction, I'd happily work alongside a Buddhist or Muslim chaplain in my school. I think there's a lot we can learn from each other and a lot we can work on together.

Time

I'm sitting outside reading a book this beautiful afternoon while my young kids play on the swings in front of me, and of course I'm getting calls every thirty seconds of "Daddy watch me! Daddy look at this! Daddy you won't believe this amazing thing!" They're very cute and I've been dutifully looking up every time to see their feats of acrobat brilliance.

Isla (4) just came up with a new one though: "Daddy the time just broke! So now you don't have time to read your book."

I've always been interested to see how Isla will turn out. She thinks outside the box. I love it.

Old Posts

This afternoon I noticed again that on the right hand side there are links to all my old blog entries, and it made me curious to see what I'd written back at the start.

The first posts are over seven years old now, and truthfully a lot of them probably should stay back there. I was tempted to delete some. But it was interesting to see what I was thinking seven years ago. I started the blog before my first child was born, and now I have three beautiful children. I think I was working in stores selling books and appliances at the time, and now I'm a pastor, gardener and high school chaplain.

A common thread through the first posts seems to be priorities. I was very concerned with making sure that I spent my life doing the important stuff - growing friendships, giving time to creativity, enjoying my family rather than getting distracted by work, success and accumulation. It's nice to know that I've been able to do that so far. I've changed jobs a few times, had three kids and pastored in three different churches and each change has brought our income down a little. But we've been able to adjust as a family and grow content again with what we have, and I feel that each change has helped us trust God and move us away from material things towards people.

I may have three part-time jobs now - gardener, pastor and chaplain - but I feel that I'm very lucky because they are all jobs that I really enjoy. Although they're not the most lucrative jobs in the world they help me to connect with God and people more than any other work I've done before. I've been in full time ministry in a church before, but strangely enough I feel like I'm living Jesus' way and connecting with his world better now than I was then. My work has gradually integrated with my family and friends and local community more, and this gradually more missional and people-focussed direction has taken away some anxiety and ministry tension in my life too.

I feel really blessed. Looking back I feel so grateful that God has looked after us along the way. I see his inspiration and ideas in the story. I think we have learned to trust God more in the last seven years, even if it's only a very very tiny amount. And I feel very grateful for the friends and family we've been blessed to walk with.

The Other 99 Sheep

Jesus told a parable about a shepherd who has 100 sheep. As he's doing the regular roll call, the shepherd notices that one has gone missing. So out he goes, searching high and low for the lost sheep, until finally he hears the pitiful bleat in the distance. Then he lovingly carries the sheep home on his shoulders and throws a party to celebrate.

It's a story that's been told over and over again in churches, and it's one of my favourite books to read my children (check out "Cecil the Lost Sheep" by Andrew McDonough). It's a simple little story and it's pretty easy to figure out what Jesus was saying through the parable. God looks for the lost people, even the ones that other people overlook. And when a "lost sheep" is found, he celebrates!

Often I've heard a different message preached from this little story though. What happens sometimes is that when pastors preach on the same passage a few times, and when listeners have heard it many times, the preacher tries to find something new to say that hasn't been said before. This is not a bad thing. The Bible is an amazing book and God is a multi-faceted being, and sometimes you can read a passage a hundred times and still find something new to understand.

A few times now - mostly amongst church pastors and leaders - I've heard people point out that in the process of looking for the lost sheep, the shepherd left the other 99 where they were. "Who knows what might have happened to them?" The message being that as leaders we should do everything we can for the lost sheep (non-Christians), even if it hurts the people in our churches, "because the other 99 are already saved, right?"

Of course whether or not this is a good plan all depends on the circumstances. In this post I just want to point out that the parable doesn't read like this at all. The shepherd doesn't leave the 99 sheep in wild country to fend for themselves. An experienced shepherd who cares about even the 100th sheep wouldn't do this. It just doesn't work like that - and remember, shepherding was a common profession among Jesus' listeners. The shepherd would of course make sure the sheep he's got are ok first. He's probably counting them in for the night, and he'd most certainly find someone else to watch them while he's gone.

The lost sheep are more important than the people in your church? I really don't think Jesus would have said anything like this. A good pastor is missional, but not at the expense of the people already in his care.

It's our love for each other that shows we're Jesus' church.

He's pretty arrogant

I was reading this morning in "Solo: An Uncommon Devotional" about the way that God sometimes uses difficult experiences to help us see more of our weaknesses and faults. Not a particularly fun reading, but it did make me think.

Back in high school I played a lot of music. A lot. Many people called me a music geek (my wife still does). I played trumpet (the reason for the loosely connected pic below) before, after and very frequently during school . With all that experience and a little bit of talent added in, I became pretty good, which ended up getting me a ticket to a special camp for "musically outstanding students." It was a big thing for us students, and we got to play music with the best music students and teachers in the state (my wife just giggles and calls it "band camp"). I know it sounds like a Hilary Duff movie, but it was an awesome experience for us, and it's a shame it's been cut from the government budget now.

The week ended in a big show at the QLD Performing Arts Centre, which was brilliant. But strangely enough that's not what I remember from the night. As we were walking back to the green room after the show I overheard the tiniest snippet of a conversation between two of my friends. I'm not even sure if this is what they said, but what I heard was something like,

"Ben did alright didn't he."
"Yeah I guess. He's pretty up himself though."

Looking back I know that hardly makes sense logically - both of these guys were friends of mine all week - but it was such a shock that I didn't question it, and it was too awkward that I'd overheard it. I was a nice guy who didn't rock the boat, tried to please everyone and didn't make any enemies, and I couldn't bear the thought that someone might think me arrogant. This one comment, which possibly never happened in the first place, has stuck in my memory ever since.

It's been 12 years since that comment and I can see in hindsight how it has made me much more aware of pride in my life. It certainly hasn't stopped it altogether (as my wife can assure you) - not by a long way - but that difficult experience has helped to make humility a very desirable thing in my life, and to make me aware of pride as a weakness. I never want anyone to think me arrogant again. That night sucked for me.

I hope that God hasn't had to use many difficult experiences to show you your own weaknesses, but if he has, maybe you should take some time to thank him today. It can feel like harsh treatment, but it has certainly made a big difference to me.

Teachers

Isla, my 4yr-old, was telling me about one of her teachers at kindy, Mr Keith. I remember Lily found him entertaining when she was in kindy.
"Do you think he's funny?" I asked Isla.
"No. He's a teacher. Teachers aren't funny."

New York

Central Park, New York, was mowed by a flock of 200 sheep until 1934.

Proof that before the Americans were ruling the US, New Zealand was.

On a side note, the flock of sheep had to be moved to safety during the Great Depression when park officials worried they might turn into lamb roasts for hungry picnickers.

Which probably indicates there were some Aussies there as well.

Dirty God

I'm reading a great book at the moment. Check out these little passages from the chapter "The God with Dirty Hands"....

“The Bible teaches us that God “demonstrates his own love for us” (Rom. 5:8) in how he came to us in Jesus. He didn’t expect us to climb up to him. He climbed down to us. He got his hands dirty so that we could have our hearts cleaned.”

“Jesus didn’t keep his distance from the messy world that he descended into when he left heaven’s golden streets for earth’s dusty Middle Eastern villages, filled to capacity with the poor and frustrated, the disenfranchised and the rejected. Jesus didn’t revel in his priceless glory—rather, he gave himself completely to the opportunity to make the inglorious feel that they mattered to God.”

Excerpt from Johnnie Moore's “Dirty God.” Thomas Nelson, 2012-11-19. iBooks.

Very nicely put!

God's Creation Project

From "Simply Jesus," by Tom Wright.

Footsteps in the sand

A Grain of Wheat

John 12:24-25

Unless a grain of wheat dies, buried in the ground, it will stay just a grain of wheat. Useful, but in a very minor way. Ready to be eaten or crushed.

If we hold on to our life, wanting to stay in control, calling the shots, doing what we want, we will never be anything more than what we are now. Useful in a minor way.

But if that grain of wheat dies, buried in the ground, it will sprout and reproduce itself many times over. Completely transformed, no longer anything like a grain. It turned into a plant!

If we can manage to let go of our life, hand over the reins, stifle our selfish desire to be in control, living generously for others and for God, "reckless in your love," imagine what might happen! The grain was totally and irreversibly changed. What might a transformed human look like, with our much more complex bodies, personalities, imaginations, desires, compassion, spirit?

But how do we do it?

I find it tricky to contemplate how to go about dying to my self. I find proclamations of "I will die to myself and live for God today" largely unhelpful. It's a bit vague. However if I translate it to "I will live for others today; I will put others first," it becomes a lot more doable, at least for me.

Isla's World: Robbers

I asked my 4year old daughter if she could look after the car while I paid for petrol.
"To keep it safe from robbers?" she asked.
"Yep," I said. "If a robber comes, get him with your imaginary sword."
"I'll get him with my shoe," she said. "Then he'll be poisonous."
"Ok good thinking," I said.
"Robbers have green faces don't they?"
"Umm... sure."

Review: I Am a Follower

I recently read a copy of Leonard Sweet's book "I Am a Follower," thanks to the BookSneeze program. They give you books for free, so long as you write a review on your blog. It's quite a good system. At the beginning I wondered that they were giving books out for free (you only have to have a working blog). But I published a book last year and so far it's sold about 5 copies - at a rate slightly less than one a month. At this point I'd be happy for anyone to be reading it, whether they pay for it or not. And a review is certainly not something to be sneezed at (see what I did there?).

Right, on to the review. From memory I think this is the first of Leonard Sweet's books that I've actually finished, and as I was reading I started to realise why. It's not the content. The content is great. Sweet has been an out-of-the-box thinker for years, and I love hearing his ideas. I love hearing his take on church and Christianity. I'd love to go to a conference with him as the main speaker.

The beauty of a conference is that the speaker condenses everything into a handful of sessions, and then you can discuss it together afterwards. I imagine Leonard Sweet would make a great speaker, and it'd be stimulating discussion. But in a book? I feel like he got the main points across in the first few chapters of the book, and they were brilliant. But the book has over 50 chapters. Thankfully short chapters, but still. 50 different thoughts is a lot, and there was a lot of repetition. It's like Sweet did a conference and then included transcripts of all the discussion groups afterwards, looking at the topic from every possible angle. It was too much.

I do think it's a good book, and I think he has some great stuff to say about leadership, church and following Jesus. There are a lot of great quotes in here. I wholeheartedly recommend you put aside some time to read this book. A lot of time.

Like maybe a year.

Kids' Stories

Gotta love kids' TV shows. I just saw one that ended with,

"And from that day on they had cheese and tomato sandwiches every day, and the ship's cook was always able to join in the dancing."

Brilliant.