Life on Fraser

It's so predicable that it's (almost) laughable. Happens every time I go away - I run a million miles an hour before hand and then come down sick as soon as I stay still. Luckily for me, the weather on Fraser Island has been condusive to not doing too much other than small hikes, a few pic's (some more should be going on flickr soon) and cosying up on a couch to do some reading for when I spend time with the good people from AYWK's college next week.

The two books I've been spending the most time in are Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "Life Together" and the pop psych book that Caz Andrews put me onto "Anything She Can Do I Can Do Better". It's all about female competition - which could be summarised into the three areas of life, love and looks. At times it's very funny as you get a glimpse into the ways in which girls will size each other up or vie for being the centre of attention - well, funny and scary...

I think the easy expectation of Christians is that we live in an 'ideal' world/community where surely something like female competition doesn't occur. But my own experiences tell me that this is far from true... I've been both the 'victim' and the perpetrator of this phenomenon: whether it be through friends (the author would call them frennemies), or women that I have gone to bible college or work with (actually for me it was bible college where it was the worst, which is the main reason for doing a session on it next week to get the girls in particular thinking about female competition within ministry). The book taps into the fact that most of it stems from our own insecurities, but also a socialisation process that starts from birth. I found this quote (particularly is out-of-context biblical references) fascinating:

"Competition is a fact of life. Without it we, as a species, would not survive. We all do it, either overtly or covertly, verbally or silently, actively or passively. Yet women find it hard, almost impossible, to acknowledge their competitive thoughts or actions for fear of being labelled aggressive, a most unfeminine quality. To be a 'real' woman one must be silent, demure, passive and sweet and only speak well of others - apparently just having a womb is not enough. Anything else is ugly and evil and will leave you a spinster crone, the worst punishment a woman can receive for all 'natural' women want to marry and have children. The Weaker Vessel must know her place, curb her curiosity or be turned into a pillar of salt." (p 7)

You can instantly pick up on her biases and her own agenda - but at least she doesn't hide them and it's there for the discerning reader to agree or disagree with. But interestingly, this morning as I was reading Bonhoeffer at breakfast, he tackled the same sort of issue (ie competitiveness) but couched it in biblical language:

"...it is vitally necessary that every Christian community from the very outset face this dangerous enemy squarely and eradicate it. There is no time to lose here, for from the first moment when a man meets another person he is looking for a strategic position he can assume and hold over another person. There are strong persons and weak ones. If a man is not strong, he immediately claims the right of the weak as his own and uses it against the strong. There are gifted and ungifted persons, simple people and difficult people, devout and less devout, the sociable and the solitary... the important thing is that a Christian community should known that somewhere in it there will certainly be 'a reasoning among them, which one of them will be the greatest' (Luke 9:46). It is the struggle of the natural man for self-justification. He finds it only in comparing himself with others, in condemning and judging others. Self-justification and judging others go together, as justification by grace and serving others go together."

What do you think? Why are you competitive? Girls and guys - I'd appreciate both opinions...

Thou art my King - Psalm 44:4

How much do we know about those who write the words that we sing in church on a Sunday night?

Take for example Frances Havergal. Frances mother died when she was 11, her father when she was in her early twenties. She refused to sing anything other than gospel music and although she was proposed to a number of times she remained single because the only man she ever loved wasn't a Christian. By the time she was fifteen she'd memorised all of the New Testament, the Psalms and Isaiah.

Her hymn of consecration, "Take My Life and Let It Be" was written in 1874 and of it she wrote that it came out of a night of evangelising that saw about ten people become Christians. Her prayer, "Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold," in the same hymn wasn’t just words that she put to paper. In August, 1878, Frances wrote to a friend:

"The Lord has shown me another little step, and, of course, I have taken it with extreme delight. 'Take my silver and my gold' now means shipping off all my ornaments to the church Missionary House, including a jewel cabinet that is really fit for a countess, where all will be accepted and disposed of for me ... Nearly fifty articles are being packed up. I don't think I ever packed a box with such pleasure."

I don’t know about you but it’s people like this that really challenge me and my priorities. So, for the last few months before going to bed I’ve been reading some of her reflections as quite times. Thought I’d share one that really stood out to me:

"Can I say it? Ought I say it? Do I say it? Is Jesus in very deed and truth my King? Where is the proof of it? Am I living in His kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost now? Am I speaking the language of that kingdom? Am I following the customs of the people which are not His people, or do I diligently learn in the ways of His people? Am I practically living under the rule of His laws? Have I done heart homage to Him? Am I bravely and honestly up-holding His cause, because it is His, not merely because those around me do so? Is my allegiance making any practical difference to my life today?

He came Himself to purchase me from my tyrant and His foe; He laid aside His crown and His royal robes, and left His kingly palace, and came down Himself to save a rebel; though He was rich, yet for my sake He became poor, that I through His poverty might be rich. God has called me unto His kingdom and glory; He hath translated me into the kingdom of the Son of His love; and shall the loyal words falter or fail from my lips, 'Thou art my King'?

O Saviour, precious Saviour, whom yet unseen we love;
O Name of might and favour, all other name above!
We worship Thee, we bless Thee, to Thee alone we sing;
We praise Thee, and confess Thee our Holy Lord and King!"

All work and no play makes Jodi a dull blogger...

Ok - so first up I have an apology to make (apparently). The other night I was taken to task by one reader for not being too consistent in the number of posts I've been making lately... I wouldn't have thought this was too much of an issue myself, but there you have it.
So for the moment, let me tell you that I've return to be a wandering gypsy and will be away from Sydney/home for the next month or so. Not international this time, but very much up and down the east coast of the great land of Oz. As I type, I'm sitting in Stanwell Tops conference centre on the AFES Snr Staff conference - sometimes very challenging and others (like now as I sit in the board review) not so much. Last night was one of the challenging times as we looked at the role of women in ministry as per a exegesis of the greek 1 Tim 2:11-15. Always going to be thought provoking for me because I want to be thinking about what I do as I do teach young men and women, or, in the case of this coming semester, preach at Credo public meeting. Always good to re-think my position and try and humbly sit under God's word.
The highlight of the next month is going to be heading to Fraser Is (pretty much this time next week). I CAN'T WAIT! I know that it's an abhorrent thought to some, by I am longing to just spend a week on my own.
I wont bore people with the details - you'll just get them, and reflections as the weeks go on.

Silence and the voice of God

It seems to me that there is a reason why movies are so violent. A reason as to why there is so much suffering, a search for justice, the presence of good and evil (even though the lines may sometimes be blurred). It's biblical.


I watched two movies this weekend; The Chronicles of Narnia and Kingdom of Heaven. Although I have seen both before, I was struck by the seeming silence of God in the face of enormous travesties. The reason why I was so struck by it is because of a challenge, and rebuke, that was laid down for me a few weeks ago at SMBC's preaching conference.

It was a fantastic week of teaching and instruction - but more than that it invigorated me anew with a passion to read God's 'older' covenant (aka promise/testament) to His people. In particular, I have been reading through the book of Judges. Having not read it in a long time, I was confronted there with accounts of murder, adultery, treachery, rebellion, indecision, rape and brutality. On the face of it, not your typical bible 'stories'. There are accounts of almost unbelievable human pain and suffering in the face of either their own, or other peoples, rebellion against God. And through it all, He seems to be silent.

Where is God when Jael betrays an alliance that her husband has, and hammers a tent-peg through a sleeping mans skull (or that Deborah seems to take such delight in recounting it)?

What does it say about God's character that He stands by and allows a woman (a concubin) to be sent by her husband to be brutally raped (by not just a few men but by a whole town!) only to have her crawl back to the doorstep where her master is staying - have him walk over her, demand that she get up and then, on finding that she's dead, to have him mutilate her further by hacking her body into twelve pieces and sending them to his 'neighbours'.

How can that be? How can I affirm that God is good when I read these things or just look out my window and see the suffering in the world that we live in?

When you read through the book of Judges, you can't help but notice the cyclical nature of the literature. Things are good, people are in harmony with God's wishes, they sin, they actively rebel and walk away from God, He sends a judge to warn them of the consequences, they keep rebelling, God judges, they repent, follow God's ways and things are good again... repeat cycle again and again over a period of about 400 years... But a little more reflective reading of the whole book shows us that the 'cycle' isn't so much about all the little patterns but about one big one.

What happens to the concubine in ch19 is, in God's providence and sovereignty, a direct result of what happened some 400 years previously when the Benjamite people failed to do what they were supposed to (cf 1:21). The concubines 12 pieces are sent to the 12 tribes of Israel so that 11 of them may unite against the Benjamite tribe - so that God's original purposes are fulfilled; namely that Jerusalem belong to Gods chosen people (the Israelites) and not their enemies. Through it all, (whether over 400 years or today) God is working.

Try as we might to wrap everything up into nice neat little packages, scripture sometimes just wont allow us to reduce God's character to something that we can understand. To be honest, there is a part of me that really doesn't like it and, like an impatient child, I want to cover my ears with my hands and scream 'NO' in frustration and lack of understanding.

But you know what? The other part of me LOVES it! I relish in the fact that the God that I serve is big enough to stand up to my questions and impatient challenges. His soverignty does not need to defend itself - the question is how easily will I kneel before it...

Thoughts?