What do you pack for a retreat?

Post Strengths-finder, Post Hillsong, Post Journey - Impact, I've got Some Things to Process, so after I do a trip to a local sporting venue with the Toba on Saturday morning, I'm going to handball him back to wifey, and take off for a few hours to meditate, pray, and wait.

Not the sort of thing I do all that often: what do YOU take when you do the time-away-with-my-thoughts-and-God thing?

I've got-
-bible
-notepad & pen
-melways
-tank of petrol
-water bottle
-iPod (specifically some worship music to set the mood, just in case)

bah

She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Luke 2:7, and for me, says much about Why Christmas is Unreal.

From humble beginnings came the saviour of the world. A carpenter. Not a rich man, nor of sufficient physical note to warrant any kind of particular description in the gospel. Just a man. Born in a shed.

I love seeing the unlikely rise up, and I usually cry when we get to matters of destiny in films. Superman. Luke Skywalker. Anakin Skywalker. Frodo. Forest Gump. Because it doesn't make sense - why this guy? He's just a regular guy.

I'm reminded that without God, Jesus probably would have been of no historical note. But Jesus was the son of God and became an amazing human, but completely to remind us of who God is.

I get annoyed with myself for my failings. I get frustrated when I see opportunities slipping by because of my inadequacies. I'm small. But it's God who specialises in the big stuff.

Soon there are angels filling the sky singing not to powerbrokers, city squares or armies, but to Shepherds. Shepherds. The McDonald's workers, or office cleaners (no offence Burkie) of biblical times. Ordinary dudes seeing extraordinary things.

Throughout the bible it's there -
- God only swept by Moses (stuck in the dessert for years, saw a little sun) and he came down with a sunburn.
- Peter was a fisherman.
- David, Samuel and Joseph were boys.

Unremarkable people, but willing.

For me, this year, Christmas is all about God being God. What we cast aside as unremarkable He takes and uses to change the course of human history forever.

Sometimes I think I focus on Superman Jesus, and Christmas seems odd to celebrate him at his most non-god-like. But at Christmas (or April, whenever it was), God gave us a baby. An unremarkable, helpless, totally dependent baby. A willing baby who changed the world with the power of God.

Everything else comes back to Jesus: and Jesus points us to God.

Sometime later | Hebrews 4

So after I finished Romans I nipped over to Hebrews, and I've been (slowly) working my way through that.
-----

Heb. 4:1
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.

-----

So we've just come out of another passage where the writer quotes from the Psalms a longer passage including what's repeated here in v1. And largely we're told not to fall short of "God's rest" for lack of belief.

But this verse spoke to me a little - the "they" is the exodus: if they didn't combine the same message with faith, but we need to some uh... pretty big faith!

Now they moaned and complained a lot: but they also lived in tents for 40 years: so from a human perspective some moaning is justified I think! But clearly not good enough.

But now I see again how sometimes (uh, all the time Matt, you're just a bit slow on the uptake) my standard-human-values-judgement just won't do: and I need God's wisdom to know how my values, attitudes and actions would best play out.

The weirdness continues when we find out this chapter is all about the sabbath! So you can't even earn it by works either.

Spirit, I need you more. Come and build in me the kind of faith, patience and wisdom you need; the kind that doesn't base reactions on perspective or position, but on truth: often veiled or hidden in human estimation, but near and intimate always to you.

poem corner

The inspired work of Dr.S? via Think Christian;

THE SIMPLE MESSAGE
(with profound apologies to Dr. Suess)

By Steve Case

Way far away and a long time ago

Back in the past where no one can go

In a tiny small town of fishes and men

Was a crazy young rabbi who was at it again

He went out preaching

He went out teaching

And he never once stopped the constant beseeching

That people look out for each other with care

And stop all the griping about who’s here or there

He said he was Jesus

They said he was God

But there were those all around him

Who thought his behavior quite odd

The man ate with sinners

Taxmen and hookers

And He would call out to

The crowd of onlookers

I didn’t come for the healthy I came for the sick

They too are God’s children.

You don’t get to pick

And then he walked about town and saw the cold and the hunger

Old folks and young folks and some even younger

He’d stop and he’d feed

and heal up their souls

He touched the untouchable

Made the broken feel whole

He finally decided not to do this alone

He needed a team, a good cornerstone

And he gathered up those and called them disciples

They would be his examples

They would be his archetyples

He called Peter the rock

And Andrew his brother

James and then John in spite of their mother

He called Bart and then Phillip

He called Thomas and Thad

And Matthew who guarded the money they had

A zealot named Simon and another man named James

Finally Judas was added to the names

He called Mary, and Mary, and Martha her sister

Who all got less credit because of who wrote the scripture.

Jesus called them his friends and he made them his own

And sent them out to the world

Across desert and stone

To take folks the news

That God loves them so.

Heaven’s not about rules and who gets to go

But that God is here with them, right now and right here

They were God’s eyes, his hands, and his ears

He sent them out proud into a world that was cruel

To the nations they went without food, without fuel

Their message was clear.

God loves you. That’s all.

We’ve managed to take it pen and with scrall

And fill up volumes of rules of who can and can’t go

We’ve taken the message of long long ago

And squeeze it and press it and package it so

We can sell it and buy and fill up a store

Till it’s not even close to what it was before.

God’s simple message

Relayed by his son

God loves you.

That’s it.

That’s all.

We’re done.

Copyright 2006 Steve Case. Permission is granted to send this to others, with attribution, but not for commercial purposes.

Week 3 | Midweek | Mark 10:32

I picked up an old Max Lucado book on the weekend from a box Jacqui's Dad had given us.
"And the Angels were silent" is a commentary taking launch from the platform of Jesus' last week.

Stunning insight in the first couple of chapters - I'm only 10 pages in I think- ; and I'm moved to relate to some of it.

Mark 10:32 is a remarkable verse:

They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him.

Jesus was leading the way, with full knowledge of what was about to happen to him.

That is compelling reading.

-----

You see, I was going to start this post with the thought that got the lappy out tonight.

I've realised I'm not *that* good at my job.

I'm a fair designer, capable of brilliance at times. Capable of grinding out good, solid work. Fairly nice to work with, and generally good-natured, and good to be around.

But a series of events have again conspired to learn me the truth I continue to dodge: none of it really matters.

For sure, there's opportunity to relate at work, and it earns me money to allow me to have house and food.

But all my effort during the day simply makes a widget, a widget that is disputably better or worse than our competitors and will rust, and fade, and diminish, and cease.

Is this an Ecclesiastes moment? hmm, I don't think so, it's slightly different.

I think what I'm thinking about at the moment is on a global scale how truly worthless I am. I feel like a vandal throwing tiny pebbles against a cliff face. Just..unnoticable.

OK, so work's tough, bad luck Matt.

But it's more than that: it's understanding that some things will just BE, and whether or not I do a good, bad or otherwise job the end result is still going to be much the same.

My efforts don't feel futile; it's worse than that: they feel generic.

-----

Jesus KNEW what was coming in intimate detail, but still led the disciples to Jerusalem.
For John 3:16. For me. For everyone. All at once, but one by one.

In Him I find worth.

Starts out looking similar to the worth I keep believing in from work, and posessions, but that keeps reminding me of how futile, generic and small my contribution and accumulation is. And fleeting.

But in Christ, I find fulfilment, and overflow; more than I can imagine use for, or even begin to measure: and yet, just enough for what I need today.

A sense of not only of usefulness, but of inherent worth, and a scale that demands awe.

33 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said,“and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him.

Three days later he will rise.”

Week 3 | Sunday - Romans 12

Rom. 12:9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Love must be sincere.



How do you instruct someone in that?

Of course, it IS possible to learn love, and to practice it, and to grow, and be better at it. So then if you're better at it, then it follows that it will be more sincere?

Interesting: are the following instructions (hate what is evil and so on..) new instructions, or instructions on how to make love more sincere?

One of those funny things: "Love must be sincere" is such a huge ask: I know I can improve on the depth and integrity of the way I love...but it's LOVE - that's a big, big thing...

But then of course I can look more at how I think of others, I can be filled with joy and hope, changing by the way I choose to look at things.

It's tough to remember this though; and it's easy to revert back to that self-focus; so here's a thing to try to cling to, to drive something through; that Romans 8:27-29 thing comes back to me: my purpose is to be more Christ-like: Jesus loved with a sincerity that's never been matched in the living.

Draw me nearer Jesus

Week 3 | Saturday - Romans 12:1-2

Two verses!

Well, it's pretty potent stuff.

Rom. 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Again we get into the present-tense nature of the instruction here:
"Offer" and "renewing of your mind" are both on-going, continuous processes. Daily. Minute-to-minute.

Living sacrifices, holy and pleasing: in the OT, the Jewish people were specifically told not to offer second-class animals up for offering: lame, dirty, malnourished: those that were whole, and clean, and healthy were considered holy for sacrifice: God takes the brokenness out of us, but deserves the honour that a meaningful sacrifice brings.
And likewise for me; it's when I pursue God in my health that I honour and worship him best. Some translations have the word worship as service: Keeping both in mind reminds me that it's about Him. Not me.

Whenever I get to the gym after either a late night, or a night when I've had red wine after about 9pm, I just can't perform (such as I'm able to perform at any time!). I'm not in peak health, and I suffer for it.
In the same way, if my faith is only ever reaching out from the depths, how can I possibly hope to reach peak spiritual fitness?

I love this last line, and I needed to dig into a concordance or two to understand it properly, if only because the language is a little old-school, and I'm not THAT confident with English:

"then you will be able to test and approve of God's will.."

Literally meaning "to find and understand God's will" but to me there's a sense of it 'resonating right' with me that will come as I renew my mind more and more.

I want that! So here I am, before 7 on a Saturday morning doing Quiet Time - the boy woke up at 6 and needed a dummy, and once I'm awake there's no sleep; but I'm pretty alert first thing, so here I am.
Not for grandstanding, but encouragement for myself. There's lots of hope.

Ciao for now

5 minutes: Romans 8:28

Rom. 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose

So, a couple of thoughts here:
- "God works.." - present tense, not God worked, fixed things, will fix, or hopes... but present, active, right now.
How does God work? - well, the immediate verses prior say:

Rom. 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

So we've been given the spirit to intercede - to translate and transmit our thoughts to God - on our behalf: even in accordance with God's will. So when my language is lacking, or if I lack the insight to properly understand how I feel, there is the Spirit, talking with God on my behalf the true nature of my heart.

Let's go back to verse 28 - what's "for the good of those who love him"?
Well, again, the surrounding verses help (I've pulled a single verse from the middle of a disparate group of statements that surround a central theme Paul is building):

Rom. 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Leave out the concept of pre-destination here for a tick; so many people get hung up on the attitude of whether predestination is cool or not: either way, if you're already a Christian it's fairly clear what God's hope for you is, and if you're not a Christian then the great commission kind of overrides whether or not you were 'chosen' (although, just to dip into it: where are the numbers? Perhaps God chose everyone.)

Anyway, God's desire for us is to become more and more like Jesus - the likeness of his son.

So, I have a purpose, an end goal that God's given me. He's interested in me getting there, and He's provided some tools to help me make my own way there.

I gave this as a thought prior to the offering last Sunday, and there's no reason to leave the giving part out here: Our God is a giving God. He provided the Holy Spirit to us - a very morsel of himself in us, being disappointed and displaced by sin in our lives; he daily comes in contact, most intimately, with the grit and stench of our sin; but He gave us the spirit willingly. Jesus told his disciples when he was preparing to leave that he was sending the counsellor - the spirit who guides us into knowing God's will for us.

God wants us to grow to know his will better, I believe, either SO we can make a decision for it; or BECAUSE we're already free to make our own decisions: either way, this is not the way it necessarily needed to be for God. Our free choice complicates things enormously for God, BUT it makes the term true worship probably a little more meaningful.

That we are to become like Christ involves giving as well; Jesus' ulitmate aim was to give up his life for us; but along the way he also gave his time, his heart, his wisdom and insight...

Giving talks are not about eliciting extra dollars in the offering that's about to happen. Well, I hope they never are. In my mind, and I believe in the mind of all at RS, it's a much longer term thing: a raising of awareness, and a provocation.

In that instance, I'm excited by the final thought: Christianity is all about giving. Yes, we're called to tithe our income (that's a whole separate discussion), but we're also called to give our love, our attention, our time, our heart, our support, our posessions...

Lord, let there be nothing I treasure too highly, or in the wrong way, to be willing to give away for your cause.

After all, you gave before I even knew.