200 words on... why I'm angry!

I’ve been home sick a couple of days this week. When you’re sick you get a glimpse into the world of daytime television – it’s all pretty bad. I flicked on Ellen Degeneres who had Deepak Chopra on.

He is a guy who is called one of the great spiritual teachers. He says people should spend some quiet time each day asking yourself who am I, what do I want from life, how can I be a good friend. You don’t have to know the answers but just live the questions and life will lead you to the answers.

THIS IS STUPID!! What does it even mean!?! How can someone really think that an abstract thing called ‘life’ is going to lead you to answers? 

What makes me really mad is his new book ‘Jesus: a story of enlightenment’. It’s a novel about the lost years of Jesus  (age 12-30). He sees Jesus not as the Son of God but an enlightened teacher. How ridiculous is that! He’s searching for what life is about but has to write a novel about Jesus to help people find it!! He’s making up stuff about Jesus. It makes me so mad because Jesus is the only one who can truly offer us life! He hasn’t taken into account Jesus own claims about himself – to be the truth and the light and the one who brings life.

We need to remember that our world is helpless, dead, condemned, blind, children of the devil. They don’t need answers from spiritual gurus who have nothing to offer, confuse the truth and make people meditate in their own sinful hearts and minds to fin answers. Our world needs Jesus. 

In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. John 1:4-5

RevWrites- August 23

The idea of our Senior Minister living outside of the parish is a change for NAC. Change often produces conflict. Usually, the conflict is internal. The change causes us concern. Sometimes, we find the change hard to accept. One way to help reduce the conflict change causes is to understand the implications of the change.

Most people who have spoken to us about the move have been supportive and positive. But there are still many questions to be answered.

Until only a decade or so ago, almost all ministers in Sydney Diocese lived in their parish. Then, a few blokes wanted to live in their own home rather than the rectory. This was a change. It produced conflict. Some of them lived in their own home that was outside of their parish. This produced even more conflict.

Today, the number of ministers who own their own home is increasing and some of them drive up to 15 minutes or more to get to the church. (Peak hour creates congestion.)

With the approval of the archbishop, I have decided to live outside of my parish in order to better look after Robyn’s dad. It takes just over an hour to drive to Northmead if I travel outside of peak hour. But there are many questions in parishioners’ minds, many implications.

Someone asked: “What about emergencies if Neil is on the Central Coast rather than across the road?” This is a reasonable question. But in the last 20 years there’s been only a handful of emergencies and even in those cases it wouldn’t have mattered all that much if I’d had to travel from the Coast. In fact, in one case I went to Hornsby Hospital, which wouldn’t have taken too much longer to get to there.

In any case, NAC is a multi-staff church. As we have grown the role of the Senior Minister has changed. Now, many parishioner’s primary ministry relationship is with their Congregational Minister – George, James, Col or Ed (for youth). But it’s still nice to feel needed!

Someone asked: “What about Connect09? How will the move affect that?” This also is a good question. If I were in the first four or so years at NAC then the move would not be possible. I’d still be learning about the Northmead/Winston Hills community, still becoming part of the community. But we’ve been here nearly 20 years and are well established in this community. Our moving won’t affect our sense of community in the short term. (I’ve only 4 years until retirement!)

Because NAC has such a great staff and because we’ve been here 20 years it is possible for us to consider moving to look after Robyn’s dad. It is not an ideal situation for any minister, but it’s possible for us.

It will require monitoring. Human sinfulness always causes problems so we must guard against NAC being harmed in any way. This too is possible. There will be a review of the arrangement in 6 months and in 12 months. The PLT is developing a set of indicators that will help us determine how things are going in order to protect both the church and us.

The sort of things we have in mind focus mainly on the staff because this is where we think the first signs of problems will be seen. So the test for how things are going will be that more than 30% of the senior staff think that the arrangement isn’t working. That is a very stringent test. It requires only 1.8 staff members to think it isn’t working! (I’m not sure who is the 0.8?!?)

I’ve been thinking about Ephesians this week. The first part of chapter 4 develops the theme of the unity of a church. Our basis of unity is not changed by the change in our address. However, the unity we enjoy will be harmed if we allow the conflict that accompanies any change to divide us.

The normal human temptation when we experience the conflict caused by change is to simply talk to others who think like we do. That doesn’t help us to think through the implications. It only confirms our own ideas and emotions.

If you have questions about the new arrangement please call me so we might explore the implications in fellowship together. As we do this we express the unity we have and maintain that unity.

I will try to answer more questions next week, so if you have any send them to me.

Neil

Sundays@645 Aug/Sept/Oct Rosters

Please email or call Troy for any questions/comments

troymunns@hotmail.com

200 words on... Dr Phil

Last Thursday night I went to see Dr Phil. Partly I went to be part of the hype – but I also think that he genuinely has some good things to say to a society which has forgotten the basic values of family, marriage and relationships.

I was really looking forward to listening to what Dr Phil would say to today’s Australian culture. He did not disappoint. There were many “Dr Phil-isms” (amongst them my personal favourite: “you cannot change what you do not acknowledge”), but he also shared some interesting insights. For example, he confronted people with their mortality, and encouraged his audience to embrace that men and women are created differently.

Dr Phil did not make reference to God, but it was interesting to note how many of his ideas were (at least vaguely) Biblical. As a Christian, I couldn’t help but compare what Dr Phil was saying about life to what I know to be true from Jesus. It got me thinking why thousands of people would pay top dollar to come and listen to an American guy give advice on how to live. Obviously our society is desperate for advice on how to “do life”. They want wisdom on how to make the best of the everyday stuff – how to make their marriage, family and relationships work. But why do they run to Dr Phil? Why don’t they go to church to hear what Jesus says about life? Because surely these are the issues Jesus speaks to. Perhaps we need to encourage our friends to understand that what Jesus teaches is deeply relevant and practical. Wouldn’t it be great if church was perceived not as some high, lofty, theological club but as a place where people flocked to hear what Jesus has to say about how to live life? 

645 women only - 24 Sept - Toxic Culture

In many areas, girls do better. They’re ahead of the boys in school. They are in better physical health than their male counterparts. They have a range of options in work and education. They can avail themselves of the rewards of the hard-fought gains of the women who went before them, without thinking too much about it. Yet despite all the great opportunities on offer, girls are struggling. In an age of “Girl Power”, many are feeling powerless. They are facing unprecedented social pressure, their emotional and psychological well-being at risk in ways never imagined. The pressure to conform in a culture which values girls who are ‘thin hot and sexy’ is taking a significant toll, with research indicating a rise in eating disorders, depression, anxiety, self-harm and low-self-esteem. Melinda Tankard Reist will take us on a visual tour of images, ideas and products from the media and popular culture and help us explore the question: how can we help girls resist the negative messages from popular culture and recognise their true value and worth? How do we help them make good decisions about safeguarding their sexuality? How do we help them discover a more fulfilling way to live beyond the airheaded cult of celebrity and fashion?

 

Melinda Tankard Reist is a Canberra author, researcher and commentator, with a special interest in issues affecting women. 

200 words on... Thankfulness

I was watching ACA last night (sad I know) and there was a story about 2 women - Rachael Bermingham and Kim McCosker - who have created their own business. They’ve struggled and made it on their own when publishers rejected them. They’re now travelling the world promoting their books and have a line of cookware coming out.

At the end of the interview they said how thankful they were for what had happened. ‘I’m just so thankful’ they both said, again and again. Which made me wonder, who are they thankful to? I feel that lots of people in our world feel ‘blessed’ or ‘thankful’ when things go well in life. But they are thankful with no-one to thank.

It’s interesting that being thankful seems like the right thing to feel when something undeserved or unexpected happens. This makes sense to us as Christians. We know where all good things come from – our heavenly Father. We are to be people who ‘give thanks in all circumstances’. But who does the world have to thank? Maybe when people say those kinds of things in conversation we can ask them what they mean and challenge them to think about who they should thank for every good thing in life.

RevWrites - August 9

I was reminded yesterday of an old prayer that church members would pray about their clergy:

“Lord, we’ll keep him poor and you keep him humble.”

I was involved in a discussion about minister’s housing. About 17 years ago the parish renovated our rectory. As a result, we now live in a very comfortable home. We are grateful.

Back then the Parish Council planned the renovations with very clear intentions. First, one of the ministers the parish was considering to invite to be the senior minister before I came had quite a few children. He wasn’t able to fit his family into the rectory as it was back then. So we decided to add enough bedrooms for large families which allowed the parish to invite any minister no matter how big his family.

Secondly, some minsters have elderly parents living with them. So we decided to add a part of the rectory that was semi self-contained. It also doubles as an office.

Thirdly, some minister’s wives are not able to do stairs. So we decided to have it all on one level.

Fourthly, because there are many visitors to rectories, we decided to ensure the family area was separate from the more public areas.

The result is we live in purpose-built home that enables effective ministry and comfortable family life. We really appreciate the Parish Council’s thoughtfulness.

The Parish Council also makes sure, as much as it is able, that we are free of financial concerns. Although ministers’ stipends are well below what ministers could make in the secular workplace, we enjoy many benefits. A house is one! But our Parish also not only pays for the upkeep of our home, it also pays for our utilities. While parishes are compelled to provide a house they don’t have to pay for utilities.

Our Parish Council does that because of what the Bible says:

The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. (1 Tim. 5:17)

Double honour includes the idea of both respect and financial payment, as is obvious from the next verse.

Poverty never produces humility. It generates resentment, even in ministers of the gospel. It is always better when God's people do what the Bible says. It frees us all from many things. It enables us all to enjoy God's world and God's people.

So be glad and rejoice that our Parish does well in this area. We are generous to our ministers.

Pray that generosity will be a mark of every aspect of our lives as God's people. As we saw in Luke, God is kind to the just and the unjust. He is kind and generous to all. May generosity mark every aspect of our lives as we seek to have open hearts to all every one we encounter.

Neil