The letter W

Today's post is brought to you by the letter W:

As the handsome fellow got up and dressed his sleepy wife rolled over and rested until she woke some time after 9.30 a.m. on a sunny Sunday morning. Her chores were soon completed, including the washing which was soon flapping wildly (well that is an untruth but gently is not a W word) on the line. Their beautiful elder daughter waited for the wonderful couple to eat their lunch. Then the family wended their way along the Warringah freeway to the waterside at North Head. They wandered along the walkway astounded at the view until at the Western end (actually I have no idea which direction it was) they were looking out towards Watson's Bay (this bit is true). Then right in front of them, clearly visible from the clifftop, swimming along in the water, were two WHALES. Real live whales. WHALES! Swimming in the harbour. The people watched as one fisherman continued to stand in his dinghy, eyes following the line he was casting, oblivious to the whales that swam within metres of his boat. A small launch motored around a bend and over the top of one of the whales, cutting the engine as the other whale surfaced alongside. We watched as the whales swam side-by-side out of our line of vision and into the Tasman sea. What a day.

Amnesty Butterflies for Comfort

Amnesty Butterflies for Comfort

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like a pub with no beer ...

A Bible Society without Bibles? We need 11 Bibles for Sunday to present to our 3rd graders. My job: purchase same. Call Church Office and find that the ones we already have are Contemporary English Version (CEV) burgundy hard cover, published by Bible Society. Google Bible Society. Find a national website with no real contact details. Assume mail order only. Then remember this is a federal country. Add NSW to the Google search bar. Praise Be. An address near work appears. And open 'til 8pm on Thursday. Call them to confirm. Ask if they have CEV with Burgundy cover. Say I need 11. Confirm open until 8 pm Thursday.

Today finish selection by 6 pm and enjoy pleasant walk through Hyde Park and down to the right street. Find Bible shop. See the perfect version. Indicate these are just what I'm looking for to present to children in our congregation.
"So you want to place a bulk order?"
" Well only 11, I can presumably just purchase them now"
"You can't do that. We don't keep Bibles in stock"
"Isn't this a Bible shop?"
"Well yes we do have different kinds of Bibles but we don't have many in stock"
"When I called yesterday there seemed no problem with purchasing 11."
"Well the person must not have understood you. We do have 45 out the back but we are keeping them for another customer. We don't sell Bibles in bulk"

I realise I didn't ask specifically if they had 11 in stock, but I did start by saying I needed to purchase 11 copies of the CEV. And said I would be in tonight to purchase them. If they had only said they did not have them, I could have ordered from a more reliable supplier. Just that I naively thought the Bible Society would be the place to purchase Bibles.

Thank goodness for Koorong. Maybe with stock a bit to the right of the kind of thing I prefer to read. And a source of religious kitch for the days I need a book on how to be 'God's Little Princess' (who keeps a handbag full of lipstick and nail polish) or a massive toy car emblazoned with a Biblical injunction to 'race to win'. AND a good supply of Bibles, great customer service, and open on Saturdays. A timely solution!

Walked out

For the second time ever I walked out of church. Quite something for a compliant wanting-to-please type person. Maybe the Friday Five heightened the sense of looking for perfection. It was so weird. (The first time I was in a 2 hour parking space and the service had continued for over an hour and a half)
Away from home for a work-related conference, awake in time for breakfast at hotel and read of Cheryl's brilliant article, asked concierge about churches in the vicinity and was informed of one a couple of blocks away.
Actually as I approached there were two church buildings virtually side-by-side. A glance in the window showed elaborate robes and stuff and I assumed this must be the Catholic version - until I saw the Protestant sign outside.
Inside to a friendly welcome. And shuffled upstairs because there would not be room downstairs. Looking down on a fairly full sanctuary with still a lot of empty seats (they would do well to install a system which actually indicates that there are seats left). Processed in the Bible and some symbol of the Jesus' Seminar (does that have an apostrophe - I don't know). The weirdest part was when the sermon began - all the lights went off except for a spotlight on the speaker. Who had been the only voice in the whole event. And for this reasonably tolerant middle-of-the-road Christian the total emphasis on faith as an illusion which we need because we are weak ... leading on to a list of ways to cope with hard times was just altogether too much ... and along the row in the dark and out the door I went. At number 3.
Lessons:

1. Inclusive language means INCLUSIVE and not pushing one line of thought only.
2. Carefully crafted word-perfect politically correct liturgy cannot replace fire-in-the-belly, conviction, passion, joy and hope.
3. It can never be about me me me (or individualistic hubris)

There were some good words spoken in the event. It's amazing how much of my F5 would get a tick here - theologically coherent, lots of evidence in the announcements of engagement or at least interest beyond Australia, acknowledgement of the first peoples, special care to provide for visitors.
St Paul springs to mind - all this without love clashes and twangs and fails to resonate. Alas!

Perfection

Singing Owl posted a great fun Friday Five this week:
Please pardon me for talking about church in the [Northern] summer when many of you may be on vacation. However, the church we are talking about today is the one you dream of. I've been thinking about this because I miss pastoring and preaching, because I am sending in resumes, and because...well...jut because. So have some fun with this.

Tell us five things that the perfect church would have, be, do...whatever.

We can dream, right?

Tempting to recite the solas but according to Facebook I'm only 80% reformed - they do influence my narrative but here, off the top of my head, are my top five:

1. Theologically coherent. My perfect church has thought carefully about who we are, and what we do, and this is all underpinned by a sound theoretical framework
2. Globally oriented ... part of the church universal and linked inextricably with brothers and sisters internationally. Today she is joined in anguish with the church in Fiji whose members are being arrested and taken into custody one by one.
3. Grounded in place ... with a real and tangible and regular acknowledgment of and place for the first peoples of this land and where the imagery and music and language is of this place (where Christmas songs are hot and dusty)
   
4. Wonderfully diverse ... reflecting the community in which she is placed in all its diversity of age, gender, lifestyle, marital status, ethnicity, creativity. In fact there are no walls between this church and the surrounding community: They are part of each other
   
5. Socially active ... with clear social justice goals and actions happening everyday

And I know it was only five but all this is held together by a leadership team with the requisite gifts

The Mystery of Love

Walking home with iPod on shuffle I experienced a real mixture - from Jack Johnson's Banana Pancakes to the traditional carol 'Christians awake salute the happy morn ... rise to adore the Mystery of Love which hosts of angels chanted from above". Echoes of the Lads 'Beetroot stain' in the morning selection: A quirky devotional from before the days of Napisan OxyAction. I consider this the contemporary Christian song that the 16th Century reformers would identify with - it seems in its own unique way to capture those Reformed essentials of the wholly other God who reaches out in grace; who first loved us; and who is faithful and whose love is beyond measure.

It's a long time since I read Ian McEwan's Enduring Love. I think it is my favourite work from this author. With skill many of the dimensions of love were captured, explored, examined; all the while seemingly handled gently and with respect. My random music choices today have rekindled some of the affect I remember from the novel (the movie didn't evoke the same affective response). And led me to reflect again on what it means to live in love.

In the challenges and the mundane tasks of everyday I hope that I keep within a hair's breadth of an awareness of the great Mystery of Love in whom I live and move and have my being. And within a hair's breadth of attending to relationships with those with whom I know the joy of loving and being loved. Not taking this gift for granted. Living in gratitude. And getting on with what needs to be done. So be it.

Liturgical elements for Pentecost 6

Call to worship (Psalm 24 with a glimpse of the prophet Amos)

Lift up the gates and open the doors that the King of glory may come in

Who is the King of glory?

The one who founded and created the world, this is the King of glory

Lift up the gates and open the doors that the King of glory may come in.

Who is the King of glory?
The one who is strong and mighty, who never passes by the people of God, but shares body and life with them, this is the King of glory.

Lift up the gates and open the doors that the King of glory may come in.

Who is the King of glory?

The one who is with all people in every place, with each person in each space breathing life in all fullness, this is the King of glory.

Prayer of praise – from Thom Shuman PCUSA

Every moment, we have the chance
to breathe in your goodness and grace;
every hour, we have opportunities
to share your love and hope;
every day, we have occasions
to rest in the comfort of your heart.
In you, we discover the fullness of time,
Delight of the Ages.

In every challenge we face,
we can find the strength to persevere;
in every person we meet,
we can find the blessing you have sent;
in every need we encounter,
we can find the help you would have us offer.
In you, we discover the fullness of life,
Companion of our days.

In every conflict of our lives,
there is your healing we can offer;
in every brokenness we experience,
there is that reconciliation we can receive;
in every difficulty which makes us stumble,
there is that dance of hope you would teach us.
In you, we discover the fullness of faith,
Promised Spirit.

God in Community, Holy in One,
in you we discover the fullness we long for

Prayer of confession

We join your dance of joy

Responding to the echo of your heartbeat

Delighting to be your people

Sometimes we get so caught up in the dance

That our focus shifts from you

We can get caught up in pleasing others

and lose sight of what it means to be fully ourselves

We can make rash promises

And get caught up in damaging and destructive patterns of behaviour

just to save face

(Thom again - from this point on)

Forgive us, Gifter of every blessing. Open our hearts and fill us with your mercy. Open our ears that we may hear the songs of grace you would teach us to share with the world. Open our eyes that we may see the hope we have in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, our inheritance of love and joy.

Silence is kept

Assurance of Pardon
Before the earth was shaped, God created the music of grace which sets our hearts, our souls, our feet to dancing with joy in the hope God has given to us.
It is God who has created us, it is God who has redeemed us, it is God who sends us forth to live as brothers and sisters of Christ. We are forgiven.

Thanks be to Godde. Amen.

Prayers of the people

Good Lord, hear our prayer

And let our cry come unto you

We gather as your people, good God of Grace

Who have heard and reflected on a part of your story this morning

Good Lord, hear our prayer

And let our cry come unto you

We pray for those who speak out against wrongdoing

The sometimes prickly characters who make us uncomfortable

Especially when they get too close to truth

And whose lives are in jeopardy

When truth challenges the powerful

Good Lord, hear our prayer

And let our cry come unto you

We pray for children and the adults in their lives

That praise and encouragement may be genuine and life-giving

We pray for adults and children in households and families

That relationships in all their complexities may be affirming and respectful

And family violence eliminated

Good Lord, hear our prayer

And let our cry come unto you

We pray for our nation and State

For our Prime Minister and Premiers, and all Ministers and officials

For our local and community leaders, for every citizen and resident

That we may recognise the significance of what is happening around us

And act to promote reconciliation within our nation and between nations

To preserve and protect our world and our planet

Good Lord, hear our prayer

And let our cry come unto you

We pray for ourselves – a people of God

For Kent and Rick and Lois and Bruce

Ann and Brian

.....

Good Lord, hear our prayer

And let our cry come unto you

In all domains of life, gracious Godde

Stir our hearts that we may seize every opportunity to learn from our brothers and sisters in faith, to stand with them and to carry their stories close to our hearts each day

Grant wisdom and courage to speak and act in the best interests of all, especially of the most vulnerable

Grant courage and strength to those trapped in life patterns and those in prison or treated inhumanely

When the darkness seems overwhelming grant faith that hope can be found in the darkest night

Help us to pray in the words Jesus taught us

Our Father ...

Amen