dCyPl's Discipleship

Family Time - Eden and Nyssa 

Mystery Flora 

Phillip Jensen of the Sydney Anglican Diocese has been nominated to give the 2005 Boyer Lectures. This prestigeous series is aimed at stimulating debate on topical issues.... this year, it seems to be Christianity.

For those of you outside the limited sphere of influence displayed by Australia on the world stage, Phillip Jensen is one of conservative envangelical Christianities greatest proponents, causing great strife among liberal and traditional anglicans alike. He is regularly interviewed on anything religious, and seems to represent a faction of Anglicanism more akin to an independant evangelical standpoint.


At this site it is possible to listen to streaming audio of the speeches, or read transcripts.

His comments, as always, have given rise to a flurry of comments in the Australian blogsphere, (and elsewhere).

He states in one of his speeches....

DO YOU want this world to end, and a new one to begin? Rather surprisingly, the Australian Parliament begins proceedings with such a prayer. It goes something like this: "Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation."

and ends the speech with the following....

So, pray on, Federal Parliament; you have got it right. You are praying both for the kingdom of God to be manifest at the end of history, and inside history: your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven, asks the Speaker. You are praying for God's justice, both now, and then. Your prayer assumes that good things from the future kingdom have begun to grow in this world. The kingdom has been introduced into the historical process, as Jesus claimed.
In fact, many have been inspired to political and social transformation by the ideals of the kingdom which Jesus said was both present and future. Both of our great political traditions in this country are inspired to some extent by Jesus and His kingdom.

My mind isn't made up yet on the issues of politicians as Christians.... It's difficult to be humble and above reproach in the position.... but they start their procedings witht the Lord's Prayer? Do even a small minority of them believe it? Is it just part of the tradition? Hopefully this series of speeches, played on National radio, available online as audio files and full transcripts, and excerpted in National Newspapers such as the Sydney Morning Herald; hopefully this will get people thinking... hopefully they can see the real Jesus of the Gospels, not the one they imagine Him to be.

Whether you agree with Phillip Jensen's methods or his particular beliefs... the core of his belief is the true gospel, he believes in the Jesus presented clearly in the gospels and the epistles, Jesus, the Son of God.
Lets pray for a god-centred discussion forming from this series of speeches.

Cerulean Sanctum takes us on a wild ride of the full spectrum of possibilities when a Charismatic Church goes a bit feral. Dan provide 7 warning flags for the Church that act as warnings to us on the way we move into the 21st Century.

On reading these I had to think that the Charismatic Church had some things right, but as Dan says:

I offer the authority of Scripture and six others tests that are being critically overlooked by charismatics. Any time we encounter a teaching, practice, or supposed moved of the Holy Spirit, we should instinctively start counting red flags.

My observations on the six flags are as follows, (not just for Charismatic Churches):

Flag #1 - Cannot be squared with Scripture or is based on a single verse of
Scripture (usually taken out of context.)

For sure this is the biggest error in today's churches.... Given that we have the whole bible available to us, perhaps we should use it :-)

Flag #2 - Is pronounced by direct revelation through a single individual or a small group of people.

I've never experienced this first hand, but I've heard plenty of stories. I think our warning from this should come from the number of cult spinoffs that have distorted the bible to suit their own desires.

Flag #3 - Is considered relevant for today, yet has no historic precedent in the Church.

In our church, I feel that the relevance argument is being ignored as we do things that are perhaps aiming at cultural relevance. (Not doctrinally, but service format etc.) As the church has grown, I think there has been a relaxing of fairly fundamental means of communicating within the service. We have always been casual, but on occassions now that has passed to being informal.

Flag #4 - Attempts to make a New Testament practice/theology of an Old Testament practice/theology rendered moot by the finished work of Christ.

I must say this one baffles me, Isn't this the basis of Christianity?

Flag # 5 - Involves "Restoring" or the "Restoration" of a practice or theology.

Again, isn't this part of what Christ came to save us from?

Flag #6 - Is a "redeemed" version of a secular/occult concept or practice (usually which has been abandoned or discredited by secular/occult practitioners.)

Cult and Relevance issues again.

Flag #7 - May produce immediate results, but does not move the Church or individual into a deeper, biblically-based relationship with Christ in the long run.

This is like dieting to me.... you may look great for a while, but then either you start to feel hungry or the results wear off...

I see a link with the whole "5 steps to...", "7 habits of highly effective people"

The cult of the new is then questioned with three "case studies", well worth reading.

I agree with Dan's conclussion of needing more discernment of practices and biblical knowledge in our churches, whether they be Charismatic or otherwise. No one said life would be easy, and no one said that it would be exciting, we can get excited, but this doesn't form the basis for our doctrine or our worship services. What God has promised to us should help us understand how he wants us to worship, we are here to share His news to the world; that which we have graciously received, we should pass on; instead its so easy to get wrapped up in our relationship with Him.

These are our girls, Nysaa on the left is 6 months old, Eden on the right is 3 1/4.

Eden is a lovely big sister to Nysaa most of the time, helping us with her, and giving her cuddles and kisses.

As you can see from the photo, Nyssa still doesn't have much hair. She smiles lots and sits up pretty well. I imagine she'll be crawling around soon, she's highly motivated to chase Eden around.

I've recently discovered this site, "Internet Monk" (IM) and am impressed with much of what he has to say, particularly the honesty of his posts.

This post, on recent trends in Evangelical worship, stands out for the number of comments he's received, and the obvious controversial nature of it from an evangelical standpoint.

Everyone has an opinion on what worship is, most people get emotional about the argument, believing that the way they do worship is the "right" way. I like IM's and many of the commentators points about coming back to the "heart of worship"

IM hits the nail on the head with his discussion. We have alll become "mini-big-churches", emulating the style and format of a few sucessful large churches. I've seen it done well, and I've seen it done poorly, but mostly I've seen it done from a percieved need to stay "relevant" to the culture. Unfortunately our current culture upholds entertainment above all else.

I love music, but I cringe when I hear, (or am part of) badly played music.

Say "NO" to the "concert-type Worship Service", "WORSHIPTAINMENT".

Say "NO" to casual banter, irreverence, and petty discussions in church services

Say "NO" to sevices that hinder intergenerational worship.

Say "YES" to thoughtfully timed and well practiced music.

This is St Giles Church at Stockton, where I have been preaching, a beautiful little church, but unfortunately directly attached to the nursing home next door.
I'll post some more about how its all been going, later.....

I have been given an amazing opportunity to serve God, through the efforts of one of the older members of our church. Rolf is a beautiful, christ centered man, who has worked as a relief pastor for many churches around the Hunter Valley and Newcastle. His life is inspirational, and he has no need to mince his words.... he believes what he says, and says what he believes.

Now Rolf is getting old, as are some of the other men who are helping out with this work in the region.... not to mention the state of aging clergy in the mainstream churches in Australia. So Rolf hatched a plan, with Greg our senior pastor, that some of the young guys at church, (yes I was still considered young enough to be included in this group, maybe I was the token married with kids demographic?), that we would train up to preach a couplke of sermons a year as required at some of these churches around the region. Primarily for pastors to take leave or in emergencies when there was illness etc, we would, sometimes at short notice, sterp in and run the service and preach.

Well, this all sounded like a good sensible well thought out plan, a good opportunity to learn, a good opportunity for our church to serve the wider community, and it seemed that there would be plenty of time to prepare. Sometimes God has a very different idea of what we need, or are capable of.

So about three weeks after this meeting, just when I'm thinking, "well maybe I should start preparing a sermon for maybe in a few months time, and hopefully there will be a training session where we can discuss our ideas soon" , Rolf rings up Robyn and says, (in his German accent, "Hey ah Robyn, would ah Mike be able to preach a couple of Sundays at Stockton?"
Robyn replied, "Sure Rolf, that sounds great, just let us know the details".

Anyway, I had three weeks to prepare for, with the first only three weeks after that conversation. Not only the sermons, but the whole running of the services as well!

Well I'm now one week into the three, and tomorrow is my second sermon. I'm preaching on Hebrews 1 for the three weeks, which has been challenging in some ways, but easy in others, I've been able to focus my talks down to approximately one verse for each sermon, and am glad for that!

And divorce stats are down....

I think our traditional values are coming to light in these troubled times. People want comfort and certainty that comes from living out these values. This has been reflected in Australia's voting patterns, how we spend our time, and our expectations from work and society.

I also note that both my wife and I are under the average age for marriage.

But the nature of relationships is changing, the official figures show. We're waiting an average of five years longer to get married than two decades ago.
The typical bride is now 29.2 years, with the typical groom now 31.5 years

Maybe we'll see an increase in attendance at our churches following this, what with the conservative nature of society?

This week we are lucky to have Danielle visiting us from Calgary. Danielle is one of Robyn's friends from her Uni days, back at UC. She has arrived safely and has rested well. Today we took her around newcastle to see some of the sights, will keep you updated on her travels as they occur.

Pumpkin Latte? Read about it in Tonya's post at Common Grounds....


Now that's "seasonal"!
I was talking to my local barrista, who asked, "how do they like get the flavour outa the pumpkin?"

Anyway it got me thinking, not so much the pumpkin latte, but Tonya's post about cups. I'd like to think in our wetern workd with all our toys and luxuries, that if our situation were reversed, and we were persecuted, (like many brothers and sisters in Christ around the world, i.e. China), we would see the hope in Christ's acceptance of His cup, that gives us eternal life.

Todd gives a great review of Andrew's Latest album, one of my favourites at the moment. Great Poetic Lyrics.

This is a view from the Mine Safety Office down to the corner where the conveyor crossing is located.

One of the stories floating around Sydney and particularly our office is this one about the apartment building that partially collapsed into a hole that formed next to tunnelling operations that were underway for the Lane Cove motorway tunnel. Seems like the tunnelers hit some shale, which forms in pockets or layers between sandstone, and can have characteristic resembling mud. No blame has been apportioned yet, but the premier of NSW has callewd for an enquiry.

Should be interesting to see how this pans out, with the current distrust of Public Private Partnerships for major projects.

The Hunter Valley supports some of the most profitable coal mines in the world. I'm redesigning this haul road, particularly where it overpasses a coal conveyor belt. To get a feal for the scale of operation, the wall on the left is about 60m high. It started out as an open cut operation, but now is a longwall mine, where they cut in along a seam usually perpendicular to the highwall.