Being a Follower

Posted: October 21, 2013 in Uncategorized
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There are a few people who are “followers” of my blog which means that you get advice that I’ve made a new post and if you’ve got time you will read it.

Thanks for your support. I appreciate that people read what I have to say, and that they can benefit from my ramblings.

But I’ve been thinking about the Facebook type of following and the sort of following that Jesus talks about.

Yesterday in church I spoke about an incident that was recorded in Luke’s Gospel about a time when Jesus was walking along the road surrounded by a big group of people.

There were those people who we refer to as the “disciples” but there were others who joined Jesus and took part in a conversation about what it meant to be a “follower” of Jesus.

One man promised to be a follower of Jesus, but Jesus had to remind him that he didn’t  have a home of his own so following him would cause him to risk the usual comforts of life.

Jesus invited a second person to follow him, and he agreed to the idea, but put it off until some of his plans were sorted out. He made the comment that he needed to bury his father first.  I suspect that his father wasn’t even dead yet and following Jesus was something that would happen at a later, and more convenient, date.

A third person was really keen to follow Jesus but needed to go home and say goodbye to the family first. You still get the idea that it was a delaying tactic.

It seems there was a clear distinction between the disciples, that group of men who had given up their fishing, tax collecting, and other businesses, to follow Jesus, and some of the other people who were walking along the road with Jesus at that time, talking about the issue of following.

It seems that we can be fellow travellers with Jesus, but not followers in the way in which Jesus was inviting people to follow. That we can be like “blog followers” who can pick and choose what that following will look like.

When Jesus invited people to follow him, he didn’t just ask them to tick a box and read his blogs when we had time. He was asking for a level of commitment to him that involved putting him first in every aspect of our life.

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I’ve added a couple of posts during the week that you may have missed. The Science of Happiness is a great video about the power of gratitude. And for a bit of light relief, look at The View from an Aeroplane Lavatory and follow the link to see some more great pics.

The Science of Happiness

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Take a few minutes to watch this powerful video about the power of gratitude.

Video  —  Posted: October 17, 2013 in Uncategorized

The View from an Aeroplane Lavatory

Posted: October 15, 2013 in Uncategorized
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It’s time for some light relief…

While on a long-haul flight, when most people would sleep, read a book or chew on complimentary snacks, Nina Katchadourian spends her time locked in the airplane’s lavatory taking selfies in the style of 15th century Flemish paintings. Her series, dubbed “Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style,” is part of a bigger piece called “Seat Assignment,” which is based on improvising with materials close at hand while in flight .

Take a look at the results!Image

Unforced Rhythms of Grace

Posted: October 14, 2013 in Uncategorized
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Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

These are the words of Jesus from Matthew 11:28 in “The Message”. When we feel under pressure, stressed or tired we need to find a way to re-energise ourselves, and Jesus says, walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it.”

As we read through the Gospels we discover that Jesus’ approach to life was like breathing – in and out.  He would spend time in high energy ministry, with people coming and going, constantly demanding his time.  The next minute you would find him alone on a hillside in prayer.

This is the dance of life, the unforced rhythms of grace …. taking time to gain sustenance from God away from the busy-ness of life, then giving out with enthusiasm and energy that had been gained in solitude.

I’m still learning this dance, but I hear Jesus’ invitation and it makes sense.

beach

Getting Back to Basics

Posted: October 11, 2013 in Uncategorized
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ImageGod, may we go back to basics:-

From complicated tastes to a taste for the simple;
From instant gratification to delayed gratification;
From chasing status to acceptance of a humble position.
May we accept
May we accept ourselves
May we accept each other
May we accept You
May we accept the good things You give us –
No longer grasping,
but holding out open hands
ready to receive with thanks
Your every good gift.
Amen.

Craig Watson 2013

A prayer from CBM’s August e-news where you can also read a good article on disability in the Australian Church.

The Art of Discipleship

Posted: October 7, 2013 in Uncategorized
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During October and November I will be doing a series of talks at Maida Vale Baptist Church on the subject of discipleship. What is discipleship? Well, the word comes from the group of 12 people who followed Jesus during his time on earth – disciples, followers, or learners.

Another word may be apprentice. An apprentice is someone who learns on the job. That’s the whole idea behind discipleship.  Not just following Jesus, but learning from him, and putting his teaching into practice … on the job.

The interesting thing is that not only did Jesus call 12 people to follow him, and learn from him, but he also told them to go and make disciples. It seems that part of learning on the job is passing on what you’ve learnt to another apprentice who passes on what they’ve learnt to ….

Here’s a video I have put together about the series, The Art of Discipleship.  Hope you like it.

The Skin Horse on Vulnerability and Love

Posted: October 1, 2013 in Uncategorized
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“Real isn’t how you you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child plays with you for a long, long time, not just to play with you, but really loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real, you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. that’s why it doesn’t often happen to people who break easily or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.  Generally by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out, and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t really matter at all, because once you are Real, you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

The Velveteen Rabbit (or How Toys Become Real), by Margery Williams (First published in 1922)

I don’t think I need to say anything else ….

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Messy Church Grand Final Challenge

Posted: September 29, 2013 in Uncategorized
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I loved the comment that appeared on my blog this week: Just a story I would like to share following on from the Fun Factory: Adam was saying to me today that when he went to the Fun Factory activities in the holidays that they told him about a man who lives in the sky and stops bad things happening to people and he couldnt remember his name, I told him it would have been Jesus, he said oh yes it was. I said that some people dont believe in Jesus and he said sternly: ‘Well that’s because they didn’t go to the Fun Factory isn’t it!’

If you’ve been to Fun Factory you’ll love Messy Church that is held at MVBC on the fourth Saturday of each month. The difference is that Messy Church is not just for kids. In fact, more and more I’m thinking it’s what church should be like. Kids and parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, teens and singles, all getting together to work together, play together, worship together and eat together. We do all those things in a pretty informal way and through it all we’re getting to know Jesus better.

In a changing world it’s important that we reimagine the church and look for new and different ways that we can gather together as followers of Jesus, and even as people who are thinking about what following Jesus might look like. Messy Church is one of those options that are available and I suspect we also need to think about other ways we can help people move closer to God.

I’m convinced that the church has served God well over the centuries, but it has changed during that time and needs to continue to change if our world is going to experience the good news of Jesus. I’m loving be a part of that change and looking forward to what may be around the corner.

If you want to get a picture of what Messy Church looks like, take a look at this video from our Grand Final Challenge on Saturday.

Brene Brown on Shame

Posted: September 25, 2013 in Uncategorized
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Shame is the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging.

 

People often want to believe that shame is reserved for people who have survived an unspeakable trauma, but this is not true.

 

Shame is something we all experience and while it feels as if shame hides in our darkest corners, it actually tends to lurk in all of the familiar places.

 

I am currently reading “Daring Greatly – How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead”, by Brene Brown. Many years of research into vulnerability led to an understanding of the devastating effect of shame on people and the realisation that shame affects everyone in some way.

In hundreds of interviews with people about shame Brown discovered one answer that came up again and again, when people were asked how they practiced wholeheartedness around sensitive and personal issues such as sex and intimacy where the issue of shame seemed to be so great.

The answer was honest, loving conversations that require major vulnerability. “We have to be able to talk about how we feel, what we need and desire, and we have to be able to listen with an open heart and an open mind. There is no intimacy without vulnerability.”

I’m sure I’ll have some more comments, as I progress through this book.

The Colour Purple

Posted: September 23, 2013 in Uncategorized
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Whatever your preference in colours, this weekend in Western Australia has been pretty well focussed on the colour purple.

For those who read this blog who don’t live in Australia I need to explain that one of our state’s football teams, the Fremantle Dockers has got into the grand final for Australian Rules Football next weekend for the first time in its 19 year history. Even buildings have turned purple.

But it’s got me thinking a bit about teams. As much as most of us like our own company at some stage, we all have a basic need to live in relationship with other people.

Whether we’re playing football, going to work, staying at home, or going to school, we find ourselves working in teams and it turns out that it’s an essential part of who we are as human beings. We need other people to help us grow and develop, and the people around us need a whole lot of things from us.

I’m not a avid football supporter, but I did watch the big game on Saturday night and one of the things that was obvious to me was that while each footballer played their own game and was able to make a personal contribution to the game, their success was in how they could pass the ball on at the appropriate time to allow another person to take the ball a little further, and yet another person to kick the goal. There was no room for putting personal achievements ahead of the bigger goal of supporting the team.

I’m not completely ignorant about football. I suspect it was a part of the curriculum for boys to play football at Western Australian schools back when I was at high school, however, I was always put into back pocket, a position that I worked out was the safest place to put someone who was likely to drop a mark, couldn’t kick particularly well and couldn’t run fast.

However, while it was a position that was out of the way, and where I could do the least amount of damage, it still felt better to have a place on the team, than to be left out altogether.

There’s always a place on God’s team and what I appreciate most is that while some people are in prominent positions, and others seem to be hidden away, each member of God’s team is important and critical to the team. If we ever find ourselves in “back pocket”, it’s not to keep us out of the way, but because that is where God needs people with our particular skills, personality and strengths. Having the right person in the right place is good for us, and it’s good for the team.

If you want to find out more about this concept read 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

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