Overheard, a radio interview with Adrian Plass:
Interviewer :Does God have a sense of humour? What does God find funny?
Adrian Plass (pauses for a moment, then looks interviewer in the eye) You!
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Word Association
Here's another meme -- instant word association for each of these categories:
Yourself: a pickle
Your partner: non-pickle
Your hair: brown
Your Mother: manipulative
Your Father: harsh
Your Favorite Item: computer
Your dream last night: weird
Your Favorite Drink: water
Your Dream Car: mine
Your Dream Home: this one
The Room You Are In: study
Your Ex: non-existent
Your fear: worms
Where you Want to be in Ten Years? fulfilled
Who you hung out with last night: husband
What You're Not: efficient, pragmatic
Muffins: raspberry and chocolate
One of Your Wish List Items: ministry role
Time: evening
The Last Thing You Did: help husband find cheese (you did ask)
What You Are Wearing: navy pants, maroon shirt, blue cardigan
Your favorite weather: balmy
Your Favorite Book: Narnia series (ask me tomorrow, I'll pick something different)
Last thing you ate?: chocolate
Your Life: yearning
Your mood: bored, restless
Your Best Friends: understand
What are you thinking about right now?: my best friends (see previous question!)
Your car: Rav 4
What are you doing at the moment: answering silly questions!
Your summer: hot (huh?)
Relationship status: long married
What is on your tv?: husband is watching news
What is the weather like: too dark to see
When is the last time you laughed: now
Yourself: a pickle
Your partner: non-pickle
Your hair: brown
Your Mother: manipulative
Your Father: harsh
Your Favorite Item: computer
Your dream last night: weird
Your Favorite Drink: water
Your Dream Car: mine
Your Dream Home: this one
The Room You Are In: study
Your Ex: non-existent
Your fear: worms
Where you Want to be in Ten Years? fulfilled
Who you hung out with last night: husband
What You're Not: efficient, pragmatic
Muffins: raspberry and chocolate
One of Your Wish List Items: ministry role
Time: evening
The Last Thing You Did: help husband find cheese (you did ask)
What You Are Wearing: navy pants, maroon shirt, blue cardigan
Your favorite weather: balmy
Your Favorite Book: Narnia series (ask me tomorrow, I'll pick something different)
Last thing you ate?: chocolate
Your Life: yearning
Your mood: bored, restless
Your Best Friends: understand
What are you thinking about right now?: my best friends (see previous question!)
Your car: Rav 4
What are you doing at the moment: answering silly questions!
Your summer: hot (huh?)
Relationship status: long married
What is on your tv?: husband is watching news
What is the weather like: too dark to see
When is the last time you laughed: now
Friday, April 27, 2007
God-storm
Your mercy pierces me, O amazing God
Lightning flash, through my ego’s last defences,
Silent thunder of my tears.
I drown in the torrents
Of a love I cannot understand
Learning a new breathing.
You wash away
The feeble excuses,
The crippling words of blame,
The barren years
When promises were stopped.
Now in the clouds
I see the rainbow of your constant care
Your covenant of wonder wraps me round
In glory I do not yet understand.
And my parched heart opens
Thirsty .. drinking ..
Nourishing your planting:
You, in me.
Lightning flash, through my ego’s last defences,
Silent thunder of my tears.
I drown in the torrents
Of a love I cannot understand
Learning a new breathing.
You wash away
The feeble excuses,
The crippling words of blame,
The barren years
When promises were stopped.
Now in the clouds
I see the rainbow of your constant care
Your covenant of wonder wraps me round
In glory I do not yet understand.
And my parched heart opens
Thirsty .. drinking ..
Nourishing your planting:
You, in me.
Emmaus and communion
I started writing this just after Easter as a few thoughts on the Emmaus story. I left it half-written and came back to it today. Somehow, in the interim, it transmuted into some thoughts on how we, too, know Him in the breaking of the bread (a part of the story we sometimes don't quite know what to do with)
EMMAUS AND COMMUNION
You are known in the breaking of the bread.
You are known in the breaking of my heart.
In the breaking of the morning,
And the falling of the night
I will praise your name.
Two walked slowly, mired with grief
And the road that left Jerusalem was now their sorrowed way
For the daylight turns to darkness when deep hope is crucified
And black pain danced around them, but its mocking voice
Fell on dead ears, the soul-reft are too numb.
With downcast eyes, they never saw the stranger
Till He fell in by the way, making conversation
Almost too hard to speak.
Is there no release,
From the whirligig of pressure, the requirement to respond?
How could it be
That their whole world had crumbled right away
While this man walked in steadfast ignorance?
Lord that I might know you
In the place where every understanding shatters,
In the death of hope, in the tears of silence,
Here let me still believe you understand ..
You took the cup that we might take the cup
And drink the sweetness of transfigured gall.
How do you tell
The breaking of a life, hope’s slaughterhouse,
That hideous hell: redemption gone awry?
How do you speak
In civil tones the rank unspeakable?
Such a strange man!
Into raw pain He spoke theology
(Having first made them speak their pain to Him)
He told them of the scriptures as they walked
Weaving a different pattern with His words,
Salvation that was not as they supposed
A saviour who must suffer to redeem
A dying that was planned before all life ..
Lord, that I might see Your resurrection
In each day’s dying, never let mere words
Blind me to the transcendent Son of God
Here, by my side, with scars upon His hands,
Offering still Himself in place of me .
With numb politeness, yet with burning hearts,
Bleeding, confused, yet strangely satisfied,
They hung on words that washed right over them
And then at journey’s end, they asked Him in:
Their journey was begun.
In the breaking of the bread, he broke their hearts
With wonder.
He gave thanks, and filled despair
With bright thanksgiving.
To their opened eyes
He vanished from their sight, but is not gone
Nor ever, ever shall be gone again
In whom dominion rests forever more.
In this place of appointing give the broken bread
To broken hearts, to broken lives, today.
And lift us into thanks, who are your own
By holiness made whole,
To learn to love,
And sing the resurrection laughter song.
EMMAUS AND COMMUNION
You are known in the breaking of the bread.
You are known in the breaking of my heart.
In the breaking of the morning,
And the falling of the night
I will praise your name.
Two walked slowly, mired with grief
And the road that left Jerusalem was now their sorrowed way
For the daylight turns to darkness when deep hope is crucified
And black pain danced around them, but its mocking voice
Fell on dead ears, the soul-reft are too numb.
With downcast eyes, they never saw the stranger
Till He fell in by the way, making conversation
Almost too hard to speak.
Is there no release,
From the whirligig of pressure, the requirement to respond?
How could it be
That their whole world had crumbled right away
While this man walked in steadfast ignorance?
Lord that I might know you
In the place where every understanding shatters,
In the death of hope, in the tears of silence,
Here let me still believe you understand ..
You took the cup that we might take the cup
And drink the sweetness of transfigured gall.
How do you tell
The breaking of a life, hope’s slaughterhouse,
That hideous hell: redemption gone awry?
How do you speak
In civil tones the rank unspeakable?
Such a strange man!
Into raw pain He spoke theology
(Having first made them speak their pain to Him)
He told them of the scriptures as they walked
Weaving a different pattern with His words,
Salvation that was not as they supposed
A saviour who must suffer to redeem
A dying that was planned before all life ..
Lord, that I might see Your resurrection
In each day’s dying, never let mere words
Blind me to the transcendent Son of God
Here, by my side, with scars upon His hands,
Offering still Himself in place of me .
With numb politeness, yet with burning hearts,
Bleeding, confused, yet strangely satisfied,
They hung on words that washed right over them
And then at journey’s end, they asked Him in:
Their journey was begun.
In the breaking of the bread, he broke their hearts
With wonder.
He gave thanks, and filled despair
With bright thanksgiving.
To their opened eyes
He vanished from their sight, but is not gone
Nor ever, ever shall be gone again
In whom dominion rests forever more.
In this place of appointing give the broken bread
To broken hearts, to broken lives, today.
And lift us into thanks, who are your own
By holiness made whole,
To learn to love,
And sing the resurrection laughter song.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Prayer
O Christ, the Saviour of the world!
O Christ our life, o Christ our light!
The word of truth on which we rest,
The Father shown to our sight!
You are the light by which we steer.
You are the life in which we grow;
The whole of knowledge, truth complete,
Through Whom, alone, our God we know.
Grant us to see, Grant us to live.
Grant us to know You, show our need,
That we might rest on you alone,
The Saviour of the world, indeed.
O Christ our life, o Christ our light!
The word of truth on which we rest,
The Father shown to our sight!
You are the light by which we steer.
You are the life in which we grow;
The whole of knowledge, truth complete,
Through Whom, alone, our God we know.
Grant us to see, Grant us to live.
Grant us to know You, show our need,
That we might rest on you alone,
The Saviour of the world, indeed.
The messy heirs to the kingdom
Below is an illustration I did use in my last sermon. The passage I was preaching on was Mark 3:31-35 on Who is Jesus'family. I started by explaining that when Jesus defined who was in and who was out of His family He was actually saying who was in and out of His kingdom. Flesh and blood, lineage from Abraham, doesn't do it. You must be reborn "from above" (John 3) and adopted into His family. I used ben hur as a type of Roman adoption. Then we looked at some verses from Romans8 and Ephesians 1 on the benefits of being His adopted child. Then I brought in this illustration:
Watchman Nee tells about a new convert who came in deep distress to see him. "No matter how much I pray, no matter how hard I try, I simply cannot seem to be faithful to my Lord. I think I'm losing my salvation." Nee said, "Do you see this dog here? He is my dog. He is house-trained; he never makes a mess; he is obedient; he is a pure delight to me. Out in the kitchen I have a son, a baby son. He makes a mess, he throws his food around, he fouls his clothes, he is a total mess. But who is going to inherit my kingdom? Not my dog; my son is my heir. You are Jesus Christ's heir because it is for you that He died." We are Christ's heirs, not through our perfection but by means of His grace.
From there i finished by talking about how, if we are members of His family, we should be demonstrating the family likeness, ie love. Love is an action. Love is servanthood. if we are loving we will be involved in the messy work of digging up and weeding while Christ produces the fruit of the Spirit in us. Or we can stay clean and comfortable and just be plastic flowers!
Watchman Nee tells about a new convert who came in deep distress to see him. "No matter how much I pray, no matter how hard I try, I simply cannot seem to be faithful to my Lord. I think I'm losing my salvation." Nee said, "Do you see this dog here? He is my dog. He is house-trained; he never makes a mess; he is obedient; he is a pure delight to me. Out in the kitchen I have a son, a baby son. He makes a mess, he throws his food around, he fouls his clothes, he is a total mess. But who is going to inherit my kingdom? Not my dog; my son is my heir. You are Jesus Christ's heir because it is for you that He died." We are Christ's heirs, not through our perfection but by means of His grace.
From there i finished by talking about how, if we are members of His family, we should be demonstrating the family likeness, ie love. Love is an action. Love is servanthood. if we are loving we will be involved in the messy work of digging up and weeding while Christ produces the fruit of the Spirit in us. Or we can stay clean and comfortable and just be plastic flowers!
One of those meme things
Getting To Know You...
35 questions about me
• What is your occupation? Housewife/ theology student.
• What color are your socks right now? Right now I’m barefoot. I only wear socks in winter.
• What are you listening to right now? The blessed sound of rain – our garden is getting soaked. Unfortunately not much of this rain is falling in the catchment areas for the dams. Australia’s drought is a major crisis.
• What was the last thing that you ate? Chocolate.
• Can you drive a manual car? I learned on one, and never knew what gear I was supposed to be in. haven’t driven one for nearly 30 years
• If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Deep violet.
• Last person you spoke to on the phone? One of the guys from our church who rang up wanting to speak to my husband.
• How old are you today? 52, but who’s counting?.
• Favorite drink? Mostly I drink water (the stuff that comes out the tap) But I love a small port or something like Bailey’s occasionally in the evenings
• What is your favorite sport to watch? I loathe sport apart from stuff like the Olympics and the occasional cricket match
• Have you ever dyed your hair? Yep, since I started to go grey in my early thirties. I still think of myself as a brunette
• Pets? Only goldfish
• Favorite food? Probably Italian if I had to name a category. But for a single dish, our local Indian restaurant makes a butter chicken that totally satisfies my tastebuds.
• What was the last movie you watched? Umm .. it’s been a while .. probably the last James Bond one (with my husband of course)
• What was the last book you read? Ruth Park’s 2 volume autobiography: Fence Around the Cuckoo + Fishing in the Styx
• What do you do to vent anger? Cry. Write poetry. I’m not good at getting in touch with anger. It was a forbidden emotion in my childhood
• What was your favourite toy as a child? I spent all my time reading. But Baby Sam, a black rubber doll (fearfully non-PC!!!) was the friend I took to bed and couldn’t live without.
• What is your favourite, fall or spring? I love them both. The only bad thing about autumn is that it means winter’s coming
• Hugs or kisses? I’m a hugger, it means a lot to me. But nothing's wrong with kissing either!
• Cherries or blueberries? Cherries are up there with mangoes
• Living arrangements? A house on a quarter acre block, with just my husband now the kids are all grown up
• When was the last time you cried? yesterday
• What's on the floor of your closet? Clothes that fell off their hangers
• Who is the friend you have had the longest? I have nobody from waaay back. Why is a long story, largely circumstantial
• What did you do last night? Washed my hair. Computer stuff. husband was out.
• Favorite smells? Cinnamon, fresh bread. flowers
• What inspires you? Courage. Compassion. Most of all, Jesus
• What are you afraid of? A wasted life. Boredom. rejection
• Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Not a burger person
• Favorite dog breed? Not a dog person, always nervous around dogs
• Number of keys on your key ring? four
• Number of years at current job? Housewife? 29 years since I quit the paid workforce
• Favourite day of the week? No particular day. I don’t live a sufficiently routine life for that to apply!
• How many states/countries have you lived in? I’ve lived in the one area of Sydney all my life, in 2 different suburbs.
• Favorite holidays? Christmas and Easter. They’re the ones that mean something to me.
35 questions about me
• What is your occupation? Housewife/ theology student.
• What color are your socks right now? Right now I’m barefoot. I only wear socks in winter.
• What are you listening to right now? The blessed sound of rain – our garden is getting soaked. Unfortunately not much of this rain is falling in the catchment areas for the dams. Australia’s drought is a major crisis.
• What was the last thing that you ate? Chocolate.
• Can you drive a manual car? I learned on one, and never knew what gear I was supposed to be in. haven’t driven one for nearly 30 years
• If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Deep violet.
• Last person you spoke to on the phone? One of the guys from our church who rang up wanting to speak to my husband.
• How old are you today? 52, but who’s counting?.
• Favorite drink? Mostly I drink water (the stuff that comes out the tap) But I love a small port or something like Bailey’s occasionally in the evenings
• What is your favorite sport to watch? I loathe sport apart from stuff like the Olympics and the occasional cricket match
• Have you ever dyed your hair? Yep, since I started to go grey in my early thirties. I still think of myself as a brunette
• Pets? Only goldfish
• Favorite food? Probably Italian if I had to name a category. But for a single dish, our local Indian restaurant makes a butter chicken that totally satisfies my tastebuds.
• What was the last movie you watched? Umm .. it’s been a while .. probably the last James Bond one (with my husband of course)
• What was the last book you read? Ruth Park’s 2 volume autobiography: Fence Around the Cuckoo + Fishing in the Styx
• What do you do to vent anger? Cry. Write poetry. I’m not good at getting in touch with anger. It was a forbidden emotion in my childhood
• What was your favourite toy as a child? I spent all my time reading. But Baby Sam, a black rubber doll (fearfully non-PC!!!) was the friend I took to bed and couldn’t live without.
• What is your favourite, fall or spring? I love them both. The only bad thing about autumn is that it means winter’s coming
• Hugs or kisses? I’m a hugger, it means a lot to me. But nothing's wrong with kissing either!
• Cherries or blueberries? Cherries are up there with mangoes
• Living arrangements? A house on a quarter acre block, with just my husband now the kids are all grown up
• When was the last time you cried? yesterday
• What's on the floor of your closet? Clothes that fell off their hangers
• Who is the friend you have had the longest? I have nobody from waaay back. Why is a long story, largely circumstantial
• What did you do last night? Washed my hair. Computer stuff. husband was out.
• Favorite smells? Cinnamon, fresh bread. flowers
• What inspires you? Courage. Compassion. Most of all, Jesus
• What are you afraid of? A wasted life. Boredom. rejection
• Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Not a burger person
• Favorite dog breed? Not a dog person, always nervous around dogs
• Number of keys on your key ring? four
• Number of years at current job? Housewife? 29 years since I quit the paid workforce
• Favourite day of the week? No particular day. I don’t live a sufficiently routine life for that to apply!
• How many states/countries have you lived in? I’ve lived in the one area of Sydney all my life, in 2 different suburbs.
• Favorite holidays? Christmas and Easter. They’re the ones that mean something to me.
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