So where do I go from here? On Sunday instead of going to our 'God Box' I am going to the City of Whitehorse Spring Festival to look after a stall about "The Uniting Church" as a forum to tell the local community 'what we are about'. There are over 100 community displays.
http://www.whitehorse.vic.gov.au/whats_on.asp#spring One question I have is 'given the simplistice understanding of Family First by the public at large what sort of reaction can I expect from Joe Public and how should I prepare for it?' Se my reflections on previous experiences at http://maroondahpresbytery.unitingchurch.org.au/community_festival/index.htm (And I have to compete with Humphrey B Bear and Belly Dancers) (p.s. Good to meet up with you at Vic/Tas Synod Rob, and thanks for those Bible Studies) regards John Halford [EMAIL PROTECTED] 48 Shawlands Avenue Blackburn 3130 (03) 9878 6169 0405 193 924 "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -Margaret Mead http://groups.msn.com/JohnHalford/mylinks.msnw - some links ________________________________________________________ GoConnect Internet Access - $13.95* for 30 hrs per month Unlimited Downloads Be part of the advance force - JOIN NOW! http://www.goconnect.com.au *Terms and Conditions Apply. Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="------------040407070102020509060608" --------------040407070102020509060608 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Thanks, Trevor. Yep that's the challenge. Three reactions: 1. I was privileged to be asked to the do the Bible studies at the VicTas Synod recently. The surprising thing to me was that in the sermon and Bible studies where I was the most challenging, the most radically alternate to current social values, the most uncompromising I got the warmest response. (At the risk of blatant self-promotion they may be found at http://vic.uca.org.au, esp the one on Luke.) It seems to me that many people are ready for and excited by the tough challenge to discipleship. 2. Secondly, the most hope-filled gatherings I went to this year was the radical discipleship get-together of young people during the June long weekend (see /Insights/ October, page 14). Young people do not want a namby-pamby easy gospel. 3. Thirdly, one of the clear voices against the right wing "Christian" sell-out in the US is Sojourners ([EMAIL PROTECTED]). They provide an organised alternative voice to the Christian right. Elenie Poulos (Assembly UnitingJustice) and I were wondering how to get up an Australian e-list like that. (It needs to be ecumenical or non-denominational, I suspect.) (Thanks, Ann, you are right. The question then is how do we communicate both the good news of total grace and the good news of total demand? Or in the old money, how do we hold together Jesus as Saviour [holistically] and Jesus as Lord [again holistically]? Maybe giving people what they want is not grace at all.) Rob Bos Trevor Mattiske wrote: > *Rob wrote: > *The wonder of the gospel is that this is actually good news as it > sets us free from ourselves for communion with God, other people and > creation. God transforms us, not because we are entitled, but when we > are not entitled. > > *Ann wrote: > *The problem for those of us who recognise that prosperity theology is > not the Gospel is that we often preach a message not very different, > by encouraging a sense of self-worth, but not balancing it with > concepts of discipleship, self-giving love, taking up our cross, etc. > > *Trevor responds: > *Jumping ahead a couple of steps in the thinking process, these > responses suggest that (IMO) the real problem confronting the Body of > Christ is not the pews full of greying heads, nor the arguments about > gay clergy, ministry of women etc etc. > > ISTM that the real problem for the Church is how to present a > believable message which is the complete reverse of the culture of the > day. How does the Church present messages like "take up your cross and > follow me" or "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die" to a > society which is bombarded from all directions by messages of > self-fulfillment, a society which is being filled with expectations of > entitlement? How does an apparently weakening Church swim against such > a tide, a tide powered by the major political and commercial forces in > society, a tide which is constantly reinforced by a compliant (and > self-interested) media? > > For me, a depressing thing about most recent election campaigns has > been the sameness of the messages from all sides, namely "Have we got > a deal for you", with the emphasis on the "you". Somewhere in all that > election rhetoric, was there a vision of a better Australia, a fairer > Australia, a more compassionate Australia, an Australian community? > Did I miss something in the 15 second sound bites? > > ------------------------------------------------------ - You are > subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To > unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body > 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: > http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm > ------------------------------------------------------ --------------040407070102020509060608 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <title></title> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> Thanks, Trevor. Yep that's the challenge. Three reactions:<br> 1. I was privileged to be asked to the do the Bible studies at the VicTas Synod recently. The surprising thing to me was that in the sermon and Bible studies where I was the most challenging, the most radically alternate to current social values, the most uncompromising I got the warmest response. (At the risk of blatant self-promotion they may be found at <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://vic.uca.org.au";>http://vic.uca.org.au</a>, esp the one on Luke.) It seems to me that many people are ready for and excited by the tough challenge to discipleship. <br> 2. Secondly, the most hope-filled gatherings I went to this year was the radical discipleship get-together of young people during the June long weekend (see <i>Insights</i> October, page 14). Young people do not want a namby-pamby easy gospel.<br> 3. Thirdly, one of the clear voices against the right wing "Christian" sell-out in the US is Sojourners (<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]">[EMAIL PROTECTED]</a>). They provide an organised alternative voice to the Christian right. Elenie Poulos (Assembly UnitingJustice) and I were wondering how to get up an Australian e-list like that. (It needs to be ecumenical or non-denominational, I suspect.)<br> (Thanks, Ann, you are right. The question then is how do we communicate both the good news of total grace and the good news of total demand? Or in the old money, how do we hold together Jesus as Saviour [holistically] and Jesus as Lord [again holistically]? Maybe giving people what they want is not grace at all.)<br> Rob Bos<br> <br> <br> Trevor Mattiske wrote:<br> <blockquote cite="[EMAIL PROTECTED]" type="cite"><b>Rob wrote:<br> </b>The wonder of the gospel is that this is actually good news as it sets us free from ourselves for communion with God, other people and creation. God transforms us, not because we are entitled, but when we are not entitled.<br> <br> <b>Ann wrote:<br> </b>The problem for those of us who recognise that prosperity theology is not the Gospel is that we often preach a message not very different, by encouraging a sense of self-worth, but not balancing it with concepts of discipleship, self-giving love, taking up our cross, etc.<br> <br> <b>Trevor responds:<br> </b>Jumping ahead a couple of steps in the thinking process, these responses suggest that (IMO) the real problem confronting the Body of Christ is not the pews full of greying heads, nor the arguments about gay clergy, ministry of women etc etc.<br> <br> ISTM that the real problem for the Church is how to present a believable message which is the complete reverse of the culture of the day. How does the Church present messages like "take up your cross and follow me" or "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die" to a society which is bombarded from all directions by messages of self-fulfillment, a society which is being filled with expectations of entitlement? How does an apparently weakening Church swim against such a tide, a tide powered by the major political and commercial forces in society, a tide which is constantly reinforced by a compliant (and self-interested) media?<br> <br> For me, a depressing thing about most recent election campaigns has been the sameness of the messages from all sides, namely "Have we got a deal for you", with the emphasis on the "you". Somewhere in all that election rhetoric, was there a vision of a better Australia, a fairer Australia, a more compassionate Australia, an Australian community? Did I miss something in the 15 second sound bites?<br> <br> ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]">[EMAIL PROTECTED]</a> - To unsubscribe, email <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]">[EMAIL PROTECTED]</a> and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm";>http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm</a> ------------------------------------------------------ </blockquote> </body> </html> --------------040407070102020509060608--
