A great resource

Further to my last post, if you are interested in exploring a range of music which is outside the bounds of 'church' music but nevertheless has though-provoking, spiritual lyrics, the check out the Alternative Hymnal. While you're there - check out the whole Digital Orthodoxy site - it's a great resource for those in youth ministry (and Darren is a great bloke too!).

Having reread the last two posts I'd better go away for a while and work out some synonyms for "great".

Great lyrics from Paul Kelly

Today in our morning service I used a great song, Surely God is a lover, as our prayer of praise. Paul Kelly has some great lyrics and was very swift and gracious to grant me permission to use the song. I recommend browsing through his lyrics, then most of the songs can be bought through the iTunes Music store. Another one of his I've used in a church service as part of a contemplation time is Meet me in the middle of the air. Great stuff!

This makes me mad!

Some of you may be aware that recently 43 people from West Papua (a province of Indonesia just north of Australia) made their way to Australia and were granted temporary protection visas as refugees. This angered the Indonesian government which sees it as an affront to them - implying that Indonesia's governance of West Papua makes it an unsafe place for these people. Furthermore Indonesia is worried that Australia might support a Papuan independence movement.

The latest is that my church has been dragged into it. And this and this really make my blood boil! Our craven government's response to the Indonesian unrest is to promise that the way we process asylum seekers will change - in effect that we will kow-tow to Indonesian sentiment and not accept as refugees, anyone from Indonesia on such feeble grounds as the fact that their civil and religious rights are being infringed and they may face death if they are returned. Even in our current self-obssessed, right-wing mood, some commentators and others (here and here) have recognised that this a bridge too far.

In the midst of this, the Uniting Church (which has strong links with the Evangelical Christian Church) has striven to enable the voices of ordinary Papuans to be heard - read or listen to the informed account of Rev John Barr, Executive Secretary of Uniting International Mission. It's about time someone stood up for them. And Indonesian ambassadors can go to blazes. This situation is entirely of Indonesia's making and blaming the Uniting Church is mere subterfuge to draw attention away from their horrendous abrogation of human rights for the mainly melanesian, mainly Christian population of Papua.

A glimpse of the kingdom...

Perhaps it's because of the Sydney setting I know so well (Suzie and I did much of our courting round the forecourts of the Sydney Opera House) but a passage in a recent Brian McLaren post moved me to tears:

We walked down to the "Circular Quay" where the famous Sydney Opera House is situated. Across from the Opera House is a district called "The Rocks" - full of shops, sidewalk booths, etc. It was a perfect summer day, beautiful breeze, blue sky, sailboats filling the bay behind us. A jazz group was playing on a stage in a courtyard, and we got something to eat and enjoyed their music. A middle-aged couple got up and started dancing - they were amazing! Then an old lady got up, then an old man, and soon there were half-a-dozen people spontaneously dancing to this beautiful music - blues, swing, etc.

Near the stage, I noticed a five or six year old boy who appeared mentally handicapped. He was absolutely entranced with the music. He put up a fist to his mouth as if it were a trumpet and pretended to play it with his other hand. Soon, without realizing it, he had moved out beside the stage. His eyes were closed and he was playing his heart out on his imaginary trumpet. The sax player noticed this, and the hopped off the stage and stood beside the young guy. When he opened his eyes, the sax player started dancing around as he played and the little boy followed his lead. Then the trumpet player saw them, and he came down. The little boy in between the two musicians ... "playing" and dancing in an obvious state of ecstasy - the audience started applauding and I know my eyes were overflowing with tears to see something so beautiful and spontaneous and glorious.

Then I looked back to where the boy had been, and his grandfather was standing there in obvious delight to see his grandson so happy. I leaned over to Grace and whispered, "It's a glimpse of the kingdom of God."

A story like that makes me yearn for the coming of the Kingdom - not "pie in the sky when we die by and by" - but "your will be done on earth as in heaven". Amen.

I've been Gizoogled!

One of my favourite podcasts is StupidChurchPeople. Today I was over at the blogsite, checking to see that the boys were still alive, it having been weeks since a 'cast. I was reading the latest entry when (in the comments) I came across Gizoogle - what a hoot!

For your edification, here is the previous entry from the blog, gizoogled:

Of mud n men...
Heard an interest'n quote on tha radio today n shit. A fellow loosely quoted Jizzy Calvin as ho-slappin' "If we were mizzy of tha shiznit of stars, we might have sum-m sum-m of worth, but actually we is not made of tha shiznit of stars - we is mizzle of mud if you gots a paper stack. And we have not jiznust mud in our shoes, mud on our clothes, n mud on our faces, but mud in our hearts n mud in our souls."

Of course tha irony is thizzat any cosmolizzles will tell you that actually we *are* made of tha shiznit of stars cuz this is how we do it. The carbon we is made of (and tha mud too fo` thizzay matta!) is mizzy from elements which can only be bizzle in tha heart of stars n shot out ta tha cosmos whizzen they die in spectacizzles supernovae.

This gots me gang bangin': is it only that we need a new metaphor, ta bring Calvin up-to-date scientifically? Or is it perhaps time fo` a new n more optimistic theolizzles anthropology - one which moves beyond an obsession wit sin n guilt, n rejoices in our status as children of tha stars?

I'm a bit worried about the gang bangin'... but maybe that's just my obsession wit sin n guilt n shit ;)

Of mud and men...

Heard an interesting quote on the radio today. A fellow loosely quoted John Calvin as saying "If we were made of the stuff of stars, we might have something of worth, but actually we are not made of the stuff of stars - we are made of mud. And we have not just mud in our shoes, mud on our clothes, and mud on our faces, but mud in our hearts and mud in our souls."

Of course the irony is that any cosmologist will tell you that actually we *are* made of the stuff of stars. The carbon we are made of (and the mud too for that matter!) is made from elements which can only be born in the heart of stars and shot out to the cosmos when they die in spectacular supernovae.

This got me thinking: is it only that we need a new metaphor, to bring Calvin up-to-date scientifically? Or is it perhaps time for a new and more optimistic theological anthropology - one which moves beyond an obsession with sin and guilt, and rejoices in our status as children of the stars?

'Working Carers' and IR changes

I was listening to the ABC this morning - a program about 'working carers' (people who have to work but also have an elderly or disabled person they care for.

The interviewee, who runs the working carers gateway above said that the recent IR changes had some good points for working carers. In particular, individual workplace agreements could enable workers to negotiate some added flexibility in hours or times for their situation as carers. She acknowledged that while there were some employers who would use the legislation to "screw down their workers", that most reasonable employers would not want to lose the education, training and skills represented by working carers in their employ. She mentioned the current skills shortage which puts employees in a position of strength.

That's when it hit me once again - like most of the things this government does, the IR changes probably WON'T affect those who are the well-educated, well-trained members of our workforce - those in a position to use their skills as a bargaining tool. Instead, yet again, it will be the worst off in society, those who are unskilled or lacking experience who will feel the brunt of these IR changes.

Furthermore, I was struck by the term "the reasonable employer". Of course the reasonable employer won't use the changes to "screw" her workers. But by its nature, legislation is not targetted at 'reasonable' people, but those who are unreasonable! And the Howard government's legislation just gives those unreasonable employers more power to make their worker's lives hell. Good one John!

Post-modernism once again

My friend Niall recently wrote about critical realism as an alternative to postmodernism. This seems to have been triggered by a concern that post-modernism was a philosophically incoherent mish-mash and not well thought of in academic circles. But I'm not too sure that the disdain of philosophers is relevant to the use of post-modernism as an identifier. You see my own take is that post-modernism is a cultural phenomenon more than it is a philosophical. Post-modernism refers primarily (ISTM) to the cultural shift which is simply responding to what started happening in philosophy as far back as Kant.

So if you want to call yourself post-modern, do so and academics be damned!