Friday, February 23, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
nate's notes
“However, that personal God is never private. Restricting God to private space was the great heresy of the twentieth-century American evangelicalism. Denying the public God is a denial of biblical faith itself, a rejection of the prophets, the apostles, and Jesus himself. Exclusively private faith degenerates into a narrow religion, excessively preoccupied with individual and sexual morality whilst almost oblivious to the biblical demands for public justice. In the end, private faith becomes a merely cultural religion providing the assurance of righteousness for people just like us.”
nate's thoughts: whoa... is it wrong to immediately think that this scarily resembles the church I go to? Hehehehe... will I get expelled for daring to ask if that link exists? :P
But, more importantly than me pointing fingers, what are the implications of this passage for me?
One of the things I took away from last year is the active reconciling of faith and action; of action that goes beyond private institution and into the world, but hand in hand with a faith that compels and inspires it
This year was always going to be a stretching one for me; what does life look like after Urban Seed; how will I hang what the bible asks of us as socially responsible Christians, together with a life that naturally is me?
nate's thoughts: whoa... is it wrong to immediately think that this scarily resembles the church I go to? Hehehehe... will I get expelled for daring to ask if that link exists? :P
But, more importantly than me pointing fingers, what are the implications of this passage for me?
One of the things I took away from last year is the active reconciling of faith and action; of action that goes beyond private institution and into the world, but hand in hand with a faith that compels and inspires it
This year was always going to be a stretching one for me; what does life look like after Urban Seed; how will I hang what the bible asks of us as socially responsible Christians, together with a life that naturally is me?
nate's notes
p34
“The lesson is this: God is personal, but never private. If God is not personal, there is little meaning to faith. It merely becomes a philosophy or a set of teachings from religious figures who died long ago. Without a personal God, there is no personal dimension to belief. There is no relationship to transformation without a personal God, and no power that can really change our lives beyond mere self-improvement.”
nate’s thoughts: Passages like this show me that the author IS being relatively measured in his approach; neither taking a partisan side (i.e. left vs. right). It also challenges me; is the God I subscribe too, and choose to orientate my life to, is He my personal God also?
To find that balance where God is not simply a super-side kick that we can command around or ask to do things for us, but to also not live in the other extreme where it can be just acts, even if socially engaging and impacting, without a personal faith at the core of it all... I find this so hard to do... but the constant search for this balance keeps my faith alive, vibrant and real... it is painfully and annoyingly lifting :P
“The lesson is this: God is personal, but never private. If God is not personal, there is little meaning to faith. It merely becomes a philosophy or a set of teachings from religious figures who died long ago. Without a personal God, there is no personal dimension to belief. There is no relationship to transformation without a personal God, and no power that can really change our lives beyond mere self-improvement.”
nate’s thoughts: Passages like this show me that the author IS being relatively measured in his approach; neither taking a partisan side (i.e. left vs. right). It also challenges me; is the God I subscribe too, and choose to orientate my life to, is He my personal God also?
To find that balance where God is not simply a super-side kick that we can command around or ask to do things for us, but to also not live in the other extreme where it can be just acts, even if socially engaging and impacting, without a personal faith at the core of it all... I find this so hard to do... but the constant search for this balance keeps my faith alive, vibrant and real... it is painfully and annoyingly lifting :P
nate's notes
God’s Politics
- Jim Wallis, p33
“It was my mother’s admonitions that became the first building blocks for my emerging social conscience. Phyllis Wallis told her children to always do two things. First, if there is a child that nobody else will play with, you play with him or her, she ordered. It was like a rule of play for us – nobody gets left out. Second, if there is a bully who is picking on other people, you stand up for them, she courageously commanded. Virtually all my fights in school were with bullies.”
nate's thoughts: In the day and age of people raising their kids to be ahead of the curve, to be near or at the top of the class, to get ahead of life, there is an incredible homely resonance for me with this passage... the emphasis of others in an implicit acknowledgement of taking care of the wealth we have in the people we have around us, not in a charitable act of pity, but in a natural orientation of life... when I start to think along these lines, things make sense, life starts to make sense again for me, and becomes incredibly simple, significantly stress-less (I mean, what’s usually causing me stress? Usually material wants and needs!), and joyful, because I once again realise the riches I have are not what I own, but those around me
- Jim Wallis, p33
“It was my mother’s admonitions that became the first building blocks for my emerging social conscience. Phyllis Wallis told her children to always do two things. First, if there is a child that nobody else will play with, you play with him or her, she ordered. It was like a rule of play for us – nobody gets left out. Second, if there is a bully who is picking on other people, you stand up for them, she courageously commanded. Virtually all my fights in school were with bullies.”
nate's thoughts: In the day and age of people raising their kids to be ahead of the curve, to be near or at the top of the class, to get ahead of life, there is an incredible homely resonance for me with this passage... the emphasis of others in an implicit acknowledgement of taking care of the wealth we have in the people we have around us, not in a charitable act of pity, but in a natural orientation of life... when I start to think along these lines, things make sense, life starts to make sense again for me, and becomes incredibly simple, significantly stress-less (I mean, what’s usually causing me stress? Usually material wants and needs!), and joyful, because I once again realise the riches I have are not what I own, but those around me
nate's rants...
Have decided to start posting personal notes and reflections as I go through the book "God's Politics"; I realise it's probably not going to be as interesting to readers as BGR controversy, but like those thoughts, these are some that are close to my heart :)
nate does requests...?!
Nah, nah... as requested, here's a pic of me and viki... aren't I purdy... NOT... she's pretty hot though :D
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Ah, crap-on-a-stick...
... I got through to the 2nd round :( Good news you might think? No!! First of all, it means the not-getting-rejected uncertainty continues for at least another week, and secondly, the longer it goes for, the more I'll be disappointed by the eventual rejection... bleh :(
I don’t want to have to handle the possibility of earning more money that’ll be harder for me to give away/donate, I don’t want to have the temptation of “comfort” or start to value a person’s job and what they do (status and position), I want to stay happy with what I have, and a simple life… and in that Mikey, I’m the bigger coward
And please guys… don’t comment with things like “I’m sure you’ll be fine”, because I’m working really hard to keep life in this perspective!! I really don’t want to turn into a person that invests and hopes so much on a job that it starts to verge anywhere near my usual ecstasy over a solitary movie date, and a packet of lollies
I don’t want to have to handle the possibility of earning more money that’ll be harder for me to give away/donate, I don’t want to have the temptation of “comfort” or start to value a person’s job and what they do (status and position), I want to stay happy with what I have, and a simple life… and in that Mikey, I’m the bigger coward
And please guys… don’t comment with things like “I’m sure you’ll be fine”, because I’m working really hard to keep life in this perspective!! I really don’t want to turn into a person that invests and hopes so much on a job that it starts to verge anywhere near my usual ecstasy over a solitary movie date, and a packet of lollies
Waiting for rejection :)
Yesterday was killer, so much to do, so little sleep... and I think I really screwed up the interview too; not sure if it's because of how badly I did, and now I'm being a child about it, but I came out not feeling particularly great about the job, I came out with a pretty uncomfortable vibe; the cold metallic lift ride down, with a screen showing stock prices served to remind me of what such a job would entail, and the trappings of which I'd have to confine myself to if I was to embrace such a direction... yech...
So I'm kinda hoping that they'll give me a call this arvo to "thank me for coming in, but yeah, no thanks", so that I can just close that chapter, not have to pretend to be obsessed with corporate life and success, and after a good nights sleep tonight, enjoy the sunny, sunny weekend!! It'll be t-shirts and shorts riding weather for sure...
So I'm kinda hoping that they'll give me a call this arvo to "thank me for coming in, but yeah, no thanks", so that I can just close that chapter, not have to pretend to be obsessed with corporate life and success, and after a good nights sleep tonight, enjoy the sunny, sunny weekend!! It'll be t-shirts and shorts riding weather for sure...
Some words from Timbo Costa...
"Over this last weekend I preached four times in Adelaide churches. The largest gathering was at the Edge, a Pentecostal church with an estimated 5,000 members. It was held in a huge sports stadium. The church has taken the lead in renovating an entire wing of the Royal Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide. They have also done wonderful work at some dilapidated high schools close to their area. They are deeply involved in community transformation particularly on behalf of the poor. I was deeply impressed by their work and commitment. The test of the success of their ministry was not how many people were in the church but what impact they had on ensuring their community was healthy. A fine test to apply and to pass. As the pastor said to me his personal revelation was in reading the New Testament and finding that not one of Jesus’ miracles was performed within a church or sanctuary – all of them were out there in the wider community. That is where God is at work and where this church wants to act."
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
crush (krŭsh); v. crushed, crush·ing, crush·es
I seem to pick up a few things in my travels, and there are a few things that seem to be almost consistently common; i.e. people bemoaning a lack of romance in their lives (refer to below), as well as another weird phenomena, an incredible proportion of people maintaining or cultivating ‘crushes’
If I think back over the last couple of years, I can’t actually recall personally maintaining unresolved crushes for an extended period of time; the closest I could possibly relate to one over that period would be coming out of an encounter with someone, wondering why it was so, so fun, blog about it; as soon as I’d hit the “Publish” button, I’d then read over my literary piece, pat myself on the back, and then just get on with the rest of my life…
Maybe it was cuz I was blessed with incredibly close and intense friendship groups (blog squad, resies) that I never felt a dearth of relationship in the brief periods of singleness, I never really felt that I was missing anything in particular. You can read through my previous posts, I think I’m actually pretty consistent in that too, and not just spouting this off now…
Chasing God, and jumping into all the bizarre places He had for me was simply exhilarating; and together with Mikey, my family and misc friends, I really found myself lacking in nothing, life was amazingly rich
Which is why everytime I hear of unresolved (or unresolving) ‘crushes’, I have to admit, I’ve always failed to understand why they’re there…
Is it because people aren’t blessed with a similar caliber of friends? Is it because we’re subliminally indoctrinated that we need a partner to make us whole?
What confuses me even more is the sheer volume of those people with crushes that are waiting for that someone to come into their lives to share their love with, when there is an entire world going largely unloved by us; are we loving the poor, the neglected, those at the margins, wherever that may be in your context?
Loving people, is the most dangerous, most painful and the greatest thing we can ever do; and the very nature of love, is that it’s not what we can get, but what we give; exercise your heart, by making your life a natural orientation of love to the people around you in ALL contexts, now!!
Spiritual warfare isn't going to work as one prayer you say in six months that coincides with the exam you're sitting in five minutes, having an exquisite upper torso isn't something that just appears once it's summer and love isn't something you'll just be able to turn on; it'll come out, like the torso, weird, ineffective and... fat??? :P Rather than poignant, touching, meaningful and relevant.
Exercise your heart, so when that one person someday enters your world, and you wake up to find yourself in relationship, you can then love that person with a big, strong heart :)
If I think back over the last couple of years, I can’t actually recall personally maintaining unresolved crushes for an extended period of time; the closest I could possibly relate to one over that period would be coming out of an encounter with someone, wondering why it was so, so fun, blog about it; as soon as I’d hit the “Publish” button, I’d then read over my literary piece, pat myself on the back, and then just get on with the rest of my life…
Maybe it was cuz I was blessed with incredibly close and intense friendship groups (blog squad, resies) that I never felt a dearth of relationship in the brief periods of singleness, I never really felt that I was missing anything in particular. You can read through my previous posts, I think I’m actually pretty consistent in that too, and not just spouting this off now…
Chasing God, and jumping into all the bizarre places He had for me was simply exhilarating; and together with Mikey, my family and misc friends, I really found myself lacking in nothing, life was amazingly rich
Which is why everytime I hear of unresolved (or unresolving) ‘crushes’, I have to admit, I’ve always failed to understand why they’re there…
Is it because people aren’t blessed with a similar caliber of friends? Is it because we’re subliminally indoctrinated that we need a partner to make us whole?
What confuses me even more is the sheer volume of those people with crushes that are waiting for that someone to come into their lives to share their love with, when there is an entire world going largely unloved by us; are we loving the poor, the neglected, those at the margins, wherever that may be in your context?
- Do we walk by the beggars outside the Maccas, cnr of Swanston/Lonsdale?
- Do we only concern ourselves with the friends we “like”, or are like “us”?
- Do we really care about our friends, or are they just social circles for our own convenience?
- Do we say me first, and then wonder why someone isn’t saying you first?
- Are we still waiting for God to “gift” us with that one person, and only then we’ll take that risk to “love” someone?
Loving people, is the most dangerous, most painful and the greatest thing we can ever do; and the very nature of love, is that it’s not what we can get, but what we give; exercise your heart, by making your life a natural orientation of love to the people around you in ALL contexts, now!!
Spiritual warfare isn't going to work as one prayer you say in six months that coincides with the exam you're sitting in five minutes, having an exquisite upper torso isn't something that just appears once it's summer and love isn't something you'll just be able to turn on; it'll come out, like the torso, weird, ineffective and... fat??? :P Rather than poignant, touching, meaningful and relevant.
Exercise your heart, so when that one person someday enters your world, and you wake up to find yourself in relationship, you can then love that person with a big, strong heart :)
"sleep"? What's that?
Arggghhh… not only did I stay up till 4am working on a personal craft project, waking up @ 7:45am to still only get to work @ 9:10am, but I also have to ride into the city from work (with no break in between), somehow appear cognitive and awake for what will be a tough interview AND I’ve just checked the weather and it’s forecasting showers and possible THUNDERSTORMS for this afternoon
Great, just great… I finally catch up on all my sleep on Sunday, only to have a day like today (or the next few days for that matter)…
I’ll be fine… I just need to have this rant… *sigh*…
Great, just great… I finally catch up on all my sleep on Sunday, only to have a day like today (or the next few days for that matter)…
I’ll be fine… I just need to have this rant… *sigh*…
Thursday, February 01, 2007
ro·mance (rō-māns', rō'māns')
I come across a lot of people in my travels, of both single and attached varieties, complaining of a lack of romance in their lives; and no, I don't frequent singles bars, and as far as I can tell, the topic does not seem to be mutually exclusive to the social circles you might think I'm referring to (you know who you are!!)
Guys complaining about not knowing what to do, and how unfair that the onus is on them; girls complaining that guys just have no clue...
And whilst I find it fun sometimes to jump into light conversation on the idiosynchrosies that occur in the various realms of interactivity between genders (an intellectual way of saying "I'm from COC" or, "BGR"), it admittedly does frustrate me quite a bit
No, I'm not writing this with any ONE criminal in mind, I'm writing this with ALL of you in mind :P
Romance, like joy, is not a fleeting feeling, but a conscious state of mind, it's a life attitude; It is up to YOU to make a conscious decision to make your life romantic :)
Not that the Left are the best in everything, but charismatics have a tendency to just let life happen, perhaps to an extreme, and then just lament that it does; God is sovereign yes, and there ARE seasons of waiting, but there are also seasons to murder... whoops, I mean, do stuff :P God, an incredibly creative being, gave us all brains (then again, if you're reading this blog, you probably have a pretty small one :P) and surrounds us EVERY day with inspiration; how much of these talents, these gifts, of nature and our environments do we "bury"?
And don't try and counter with "but natey, it's easy for you because you already have someone"; ask anyone around me, even in the periods of singleness (yes yes ange / mikey, however brief they may be :P), I DO romantic things; it's who I am, it's who I enjoy being
I watch soppy movies (by myself), I skate along the beach, I go to dance classes... etc, etc...
I'm romantic to my close friends; a little extra thought can turn a present of coasters into the surprise of a thoughtful, relevant gift; a hug here, lotsa hugs there... well, ok, whilst I'm usually giving them, I'm having heaps of fun for me with them too :P
LOVE who you are, and in a world that teaches how to achieve your own goals, to look after your own self, be passionate about the people around you; it is who I am now, and the only way I want to live
Guys complaining about not knowing what to do, and how unfair that the onus is on them; girls complaining that guys just have no clue...
And whilst I find it fun sometimes to jump into light conversation on the idiosynchrosies that occur in the various realms of interactivity between genders (an intellectual way of saying "I'm from COC" or, "BGR"), it admittedly does frustrate me quite a bit
No, I'm not writing this with any ONE criminal in mind, I'm writing this with ALL of you in mind :P
Romance, like joy, is not a fleeting feeling, but a conscious state of mind, it's a life attitude; It is up to YOU to make a conscious decision to make your life romantic :)
Not that the Left are the best in everything, but charismatics have a tendency to just let life happen, perhaps to an extreme, and then just lament that it does; God is sovereign yes, and there ARE seasons of waiting, but there are also seasons to murder... whoops, I mean, do stuff :P God, an incredibly creative being, gave us all brains (then again, if you're reading this blog, you probably have a pretty small one :P) and surrounds us EVERY day with inspiration; how much of these talents, these gifts, of nature and our environments do we "bury"?
And don't try and counter with "but natey, it's easy for you because you already have someone"; ask anyone around me, even in the periods of singleness (yes yes ange / mikey, however brief they may be :P), I DO romantic things; it's who I am, it's who I enjoy being
I watch soppy movies (by myself), I skate along the beach, I go to dance classes... etc, etc...
I'm romantic to my close friends; a little extra thought can turn a present of coasters into the surprise of a thoughtful, relevant gift; a hug here, lotsa hugs there... well, ok, whilst I'm usually giving them, I'm having heaps of fun for me with them too :P
LOVE who you are, and in a world that teaches how to achieve your own goals, to look after your own self, be passionate about the people around you; it is who I am now, and the only way I want to live
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