I'm still here... the last week has been a bit crazy catching up on things.
We've got a church leaders retreat thingy on this weekend too...
Hey, there was a blog party on at tink's site...all for me.
Check out the cake...
According to Wikipedia this is what happened January the year of my birth...
January 1 - Cultivars of plants named after this date must be named in a modern language, not in Latin.
January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when forces of Fidel Castro advance.
January 2 - CBS Radio cuts four soap operas: Backstage Wife, Our Gal Sunday, Road of Life, and This is Nora Drake.
January 2 - Castro's troops approach Havana.
January 3 - Island of Addu in the Maldives declares independence.
January 3 - Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
January 4 - In Cuba rebel troops lead by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos enter Havana.
January 4 - In Léopoldville 42 people killed during clashes between police & participants of a meeting of the Abako party.
January 6 - Fidel Castro arrives in Havana.
January 7 - The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
January 8 - Charles De Gaulle inaugurated as the first president of French Fifth Republic.
January 13 - Cuban communists execute 71 supporters of Fulgencio Batista.
January 22 - Knox Mine Disaster - water breaches River Slope mine in Port Griffith, Pennsylvania - 12 miners dead.
pretty momentous january ... NOT!!
ALTHOUGH...
February 15 - Mattel's Barbie doll goes on sale in the USA. AND...
January 21 1793 - After being found guilty for treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI of France is guillotined.
Other 21st of January babies:
1940 - Jack Nicklaus, American golfer
1941 - Plácido Domingo, Spanish-born tenor
1924 - Benny Hill, British actor, comic and singer (d. 1992)
1956 - Geena Davis, American actress
1976 - Emma Bunton, English singer (Spice Girls)
1924 - Telly Savalas, American actor (d. 1994)
1905 - Christian Dior, French fashion designer (d. 1957)
... can't quite work out the connection!!
Monday, January 23, 2006
Check out Caity's holiday
Caity (Revhead junior!) has just spend two weeks in Queensland ...
this is her story ....
Check out Caity's holiday
this is her story ....
Check out Caity's holiday
Saturday, January 21, 2006
FRIDAY 21st January 2005
Braced myself for the trip to the airport remembering the nightmare of 2005....
Let me give you a flashback moment to this time last year....
FRIDAY 21st January 2005
Last day in L.A. today. Spent last night washing some clothes and cramming the 50 tonnes of lollies and books into my suitcases. Books weigh much too much!!
We finished class by lunchtime, said our teary heart-wrenching farewells (sorta!) and the Brian (who lives in Auckland), Andrew (Camberwell) and me had lunch at a pizza joint to talk about how we would help each other this year. We are what they call a ‘cohort’ and are supposed to do our assignments together this year. They put us all together because we all live down under so its easier to catch up.
We mentioned to the waitress that we were having a last ‘meal’ here because we were flying out and airline food is gross! “I know, she said, “ It’s just awful, inedible plastic trash – when I fly I always taker a stash of MacDonald’s on board.” Macdonald’s??? Nice girl, just not very bright.
I had booked the PrimeTime shuttle-bus for 2pm – to take us the 40minute trip to LA Airport (LAX). I remembered last year’s chaos all too well. Andrew (Who is flying home with me) thought that was much too early. He hates sitting at LAX even though he is a Qantas club member and gets free food, drink and nice seats while he waits. “ Change it to 4pm, that’ll be plenty , they can’t muck it up two years running.” Hmmm!
4.45pm – “ Should we check on the Shuttle, Martin?” It was getting late and dark (Winter here). We rang the company who then said to hold whilst they paged the Shuttle. As I was holding – on my mobile – the van pulled up with a jerk, and a Manuel look alike with an Arabic accent got out. “ Ayiyi! The traffic! And I had to drop off a pick-up in West LA…”
5.30pm Sitting in smoggy peak hour , not moving much traffic on the freeway. “ They call zees a freeway, eet ees more like a parking lot! Ha!” snorted Manuel.
It turned out Manuel was an Iraqi Jew with Israeli and USA citizenship; three kids at college and lots of loud opinions about world politics “They call this a democracy, ha! Ze president talks about freedom and supporting freedom for all people – but who do they support in the middle east? The Saudis! The Kuwaitis! They do trade with the Chinese! They toppled the democratically elected Allende regime in South America because they didn’t like it ….” He actually was very astute, just very unsettling having him facing us gesticulating wildly with his hands whilst driving outrageously fast when the traffic flows allowed it!
We heard his HQ paging him to ask him when he was picking up the pasadena customer, because ‘customer’s had complained that the shuttle was late’.
6pm Somewhere in South LA – picked up an irate woman who has a flight leaving at 6.30pm.
Megen Solomon. Professor at LA University in Choral music. Conducts something like the Boston National Choral Society… something. She’s named after a lagoon on the Virgin Islands where her parents went on their honeymoon! Interesting what you learn running 3 hours late on an LA freeway!
7pmWe’re heading into darkest deepest LA down town for someone else to pick up. The driver has given us the street directory and told us to find the roads and direct him. I’m having a definite Fawlty towers experience here as he reproofs us for getting it wrong. We’re poured over the map, the three of us desperately looking for the address, apologising for our feeble incompetence. Customers!
7.30pm Traumatized and shell shocked we arrive at LAX! “At least we’ll get an aisle or exit row seat,” says Andrew. “ I’m a Qantas Club Member, I get preference, and I’ll get you a good seat too.”
8.30pmThere are no good seats left. We will sit squashed like sardines for eight hundred hours back to Melbourne. I can almost feel the clots forming!
FLASHBACK FADES OUT...
This year I’m sitting in the guesthouse library at 3pm waiting for the 3.30pm shuttles and dreading to think how late it might be.... 3.15pm, an Iranian with a grand moustache pokes his head around the corner... “Mr Revhead? I’m the Shuttle driver, I hope you don’t mind me being early, but I do hate getting customers held up on the freeway; here let me take your bags.” I don’t know how long I sat gaping at this angel - wow!
By the way, why do all taxi or shuttle drivers look – and sound like Manuel? Do they do a manuel-exam?
Anyway we got there in record time – AND... as I booked in, the Qantas dude happened to mention: “Now, we’ve given you an EXIT ROW WINDOW SEAT.”
Ahhhh, miracles at LA! I’ve just a excellent Mexican meal here, chatted with the guy who runs all the Macs at Latrobe Uni who’s on his way back from the MacWorld Expo at Cupertino; found a nook with a power-point; plugged in to iTunes; listening to Jim Croce; and typing away whilst watching the harried masses stream past... See you soon, dudes!
Let me give you a flashback moment to this time last year....
FRIDAY 21st January 2005
Last day in L.A. today. Spent last night washing some clothes and cramming the 50 tonnes of lollies and books into my suitcases. Books weigh much too much!!
We finished class by lunchtime, said our teary heart-wrenching farewells (sorta!) and the Brian (who lives in Auckland), Andrew (Camberwell) and me had lunch at a pizza joint to talk about how we would help each other this year. We are what they call a ‘cohort’ and are supposed to do our assignments together this year. They put us all together because we all live down under so its easier to catch up.
We mentioned to the waitress that we were having a last ‘meal’ here because we were flying out and airline food is gross! “I know, she said, “ It’s just awful, inedible plastic trash – when I fly I always taker a stash of MacDonald’s on board.” Macdonald’s??? Nice girl, just not very bright.
I had booked the PrimeTime shuttle-bus for 2pm – to take us the 40minute trip to LA Airport (LAX). I remembered last year’s chaos all too well. Andrew (Who is flying home with me) thought that was much too early. He hates sitting at LAX even though he is a Qantas club member and gets free food, drink and nice seats while he waits. “ Change it to 4pm, that’ll be plenty , they can’t muck it up two years running.” Hmmm!
4.45pm – “ Should we check on the Shuttle, Martin?” It was getting late and dark (Winter here). We rang the company who then said to hold whilst they paged the Shuttle. As I was holding – on my mobile – the van pulled up with a jerk, and a Manuel look alike with an Arabic accent got out. “ Ayiyi! The traffic! And I had to drop off a pick-up in West LA…”
5.30pm Sitting in smoggy peak hour , not moving much traffic on the freeway. “ They call zees a freeway, eet ees more like a parking lot! Ha!” snorted Manuel.
It turned out Manuel was an Iraqi Jew with Israeli and USA citizenship; three kids at college and lots of loud opinions about world politics “They call this a democracy, ha! Ze president talks about freedom and supporting freedom for all people – but who do they support in the middle east? The Saudis! The Kuwaitis! They do trade with the Chinese! They toppled the democratically elected Allende regime in South America because they didn’t like it ….” He actually was very astute, just very unsettling having him facing us gesticulating wildly with his hands whilst driving outrageously fast when the traffic flows allowed it!
We heard his HQ paging him to ask him when he was picking up the pasadena customer, because ‘customer’s had complained that the shuttle was late’.
6pm Somewhere in South LA – picked up an irate woman who has a flight leaving at 6.30pm.
Megen Solomon. Professor at LA University in Choral music. Conducts something like the Boston National Choral Society… something. She’s named after a lagoon on the Virgin Islands where her parents went on their honeymoon! Interesting what you learn running 3 hours late on an LA freeway!
7pmWe’re heading into darkest deepest LA down town for someone else to pick up. The driver has given us the street directory and told us to find the roads and direct him. I’m having a definite Fawlty towers experience here as he reproofs us for getting it wrong. We’re poured over the map, the three of us desperately looking for the address, apologising for our feeble incompetence. Customers!
7.30pm Traumatized and shell shocked we arrive at LAX! “At least we’ll get an aisle or exit row seat,” says Andrew. “ I’m a Qantas Club Member, I get preference, and I’ll get you a good seat too.”
8.30pmThere are no good seats left. We will sit squashed like sardines for eight hundred hours back to Melbourne. I can almost feel the clots forming!
FLASHBACK FADES OUT...
This year I’m sitting in the guesthouse library at 3pm waiting for the 3.30pm shuttles and dreading to think how late it might be.... 3.15pm, an Iranian with a grand moustache pokes his head around the corner... “Mr Revhead? I’m the Shuttle driver, I hope you don’t mind me being early, but I do hate getting customers held up on the freeway; here let me take your bags.” I don’t know how long I sat gaping at this angel - wow!
By the way, why do all taxi or shuttle drivers look – and sound like Manuel? Do they do a manuel-exam?
Anyway we got there in record time – AND... as I booked in, the Qantas dude happened to mention: “Now, we’ve given you an EXIT ROW WINDOW SEAT.”
Ahhhh, miracles at LA! I’ve just a excellent Mexican meal here, chatted with the guy who runs all the Macs at Latrobe Uni who’s on his way back from the MacWorld Expo at Cupertino; found a nook with a power-point; plugged in to iTunes; listening to Jim Croce; and typing away whilst watching the harried masses stream past... See you soon, dudes!
Friday, January 20, 2006
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Mission-shaped or Mission flavored
Well, we just finished for the year.
My head is spinning with dates, deadlines and assignments! The block of time here is really the 'calm before the storm' - now comes the hard work! These two whiteboards are my cryptic reminder of all the work to 2008!!!
The stream of study here is called 'Missional Leadership' - what does it mean to take a different approach to being church...
Here's an extract from an article by a guy called Ken, who works with a mob called ' Church Resource Ministries'. I thought it was a nice snapshot...
Every Sunday morning about sixty or seventy people take over the ‘Green McCaw’ café located in a suburban shopping strip. The small space is packed to the door and people sit around tables to enjoy the music, listen to a brief and punchy message, hear stories and generally celebrate the good things that God is doing in their community.
It’s a pretty unlikely crew – a millionaire businessman sits at the same table as a recovering heroin addict. The head bouncer from the local pub is there, along with IT professionals, welfare dependent single mums and an array of others. The young pastors are desperately seeking a larger space to meet. About half the people attending that morning have come to faith among this group. The rest were either part of the original planting team or have re-connected with church after a break.
Sunday afternoons, in another city meets another church, which looks virtually the same. The look and feel is café casual, although they meet in a school hall. The music is not too different, the message just as relevant and punchy. The crowd lacks some of the diversity, but numbers about eighty or so. All in all, you’d struggle to see from the outside how very, very different these two churches are.
What’s the difference?
Our first example began six years ago as a team of about ten people. For the first two years they had no public worship service, committing most of their time to building relationships with unchurched people, doing simple acts of service, making disciples one by one and gathering them into small groups. When the people they were reaching kept asking to ‘start church’, they commenced a monthly service. They moved to a fortnightly service only when they had enough people involved to sustain both grass-roots mission activity and the public service. They’ve only recently increased the frequency to weekly.
Because a favorite pastime in their area is relaxing in a café, they chose a one as a meeting place. Founded and formed by mission, this is a mission-shaped church.
Although a little bigger, the second example church is only eighteen months old. The origins of the church are found in a small group of young adults, frustrated by the rigidity of the traditional church they attended. They wanted something fresh, contemporary and informal - something they could invite their friends to.
The group worked hard to bring their dream to reality. They put together a detailed strategic plan, pulled together ideas, people and resources and even gained the blessing of their home church. Local government demographics told them that middle class 18-40 year-olds abounded in their suburb, so everything about the service - from funky music to plunger coffee – was chosen with these in mind. Their first service was everything they had hoped, and since then a steady flow of new faces has delighted the leadership group. While the new church appears to be a resounding success, a few nagging doubts rattle about in the minds of the leaders. Firstly, almost all the newcomers are from other churches. Some stay, some attend for a few weeks and move on. Everyone is encouraged to invite their friends, but all their friends are Christians.
Secondly, the church’s efforts at outreach don’t seem to be effective in bringing people into the church. They’ve done everything from a ’battle of the bands’ to offering free marriage counseling (stat’s showed a high marriage breakdown rate in the area), but there’s been no ‘flow on’ from these to the worship service. Thirdly, the core team is growing tired of the effort required to maintain the current standard in the weekly service, plus the outreach activities. Because successful, large churches emphasize excellence, the leaders have drummed into the worship team to give their all. But now the team is starting to lose their energy and creative edge. Contemporary and cool as it may be, the second example is mission-flavored.
Ken Morgan trained at Tabor College, Melbourne.
My head is spinning with dates, deadlines and assignments! The block of time here is really the 'calm before the storm' - now comes the hard work! These two whiteboards are my cryptic reminder of all the work to 2008!!!
The stream of study here is called 'Missional Leadership' - what does it mean to take a different approach to being church... Here's an extract from an article by a guy called Ken, who works with a mob called ' Church Resource Ministries'. I thought it was a nice snapshot...
Every Sunday morning about sixty or seventy people take over the ‘Green McCaw’ café located in a suburban shopping strip. The small space is packed to the door and people sit around tables to enjoy the music, listen to a brief and punchy message, hear stories and generally celebrate the good things that God is doing in their community.
It’s a pretty unlikely crew – a millionaire businessman sits at the same table as a recovering heroin addict. The head bouncer from the local pub is there, along with IT professionals, welfare dependent single mums and an array of others. The young pastors are desperately seeking a larger space to meet. About half the people attending that morning have come to faith among this group. The rest were either part of the original planting team or have re-connected with church after a break.
Sunday afternoons, in another city meets another church, which looks virtually the same. The look and feel is café casual, although they meet in a school hall. The music is not too different, the message just as relevant and punchy. The crowd lacks some of the diversity, but numbers about eighty or so. All in all, you’d struggle to see from the outside how very, very different these two churches are.
What’s the difference?
Our first example began six years ago as a team of about ten people. For the first two years they had no public worship service, committing most of their time to building relationships with unchurched people, doing simple acts of service, making disciples one by one and gathering them into small groups. When the people they were reaching kept asking to ‘start church’, they commenced a monthly service. They moved to a fortnightly service only when they had enough people involved to sustain both grass-roots mission activity and the public service. They’ve only recently increased the frequency to weekly.
Because a favorite pastime in their area is relaxing in a café, they chose a one as a meeting place. Founded and formed by mission, this is a mission-shaped church.
Although a little bigger, the second example church is only eighteen months old. The origins of the church are found in a small group of young adults, frustrated by the rigidity of the traditional church they attended. They wanted something fresh, contemporary and informal - something they could invite their friends to.
The group worked hard to bring their dream to reality. They put together a detailed strategic plan, pulled together ideas, people and resources and even gained the blessing of their home church. Local government demographics told them that middle class 18-40 year-olds abounded in their suburb, so everything about the service - from funky music to plunger coffee – was chosen with these in mind. Their first service was everything they had hoped, and since then a steady flow of new faces has delighted the leadership group. While the new church appears to be a resounding success, a few nagging doubts rattle about in the minds of the leaders. Firstly, almost all the newcomers are from other churches. Some stay, some attend for a few weeks and move on. Everyone is encouraged to invite their friends, but all their friends are Christians.
Secondly, the church’s efforts at outreach don’t seem to be effective in bringing people into the church. They’ve done everything from a ’battle of the bands’ to offering free marriage counseling (stat’s showed a high marriage breakdown rate in the area), but there’s been no ‘flow on’ from these to the worship service. Thirdly, the core team is growing tired of the effort required to maintain the current standard in the weekly service, plus the outreach activities. Because successful, large churches emphasize excellence, the leaders have drummed into the worship team to give their all. But now the team is starting to lose their energy and creative edge. Contemporary and cool as it may be, the second example is mission-flavored.
Ken Morgan trained at Tabor College, Melbourne.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Monday 16/1/06
Golden Globe film awards last night – and when you are in L.A. a few miles away from Hollywood, well then the TV networks have a four-year-old-on-red-cordial seizure!
I kept ABC on in the background last night to get a feel for the thing - they had a Red Carpet special – with a bubbly presenter interviewing all the stars as they arrived for the big night. Amazing how MUCH fabric the males wear and how surly they are, and how LITTLE fabric the females drape on, and how gushy they are.
I really feel I need to use words like ‘fawning’ and ‘sycophantic’ at this point. The mutual admiration, air-kissing, preening, posing. The interesting thing is that most are not great people who have significantly improved the lot of humanity – they are often small-time time wannabes caught up in the fame-game, and adored by the significance starved audience in TV-land. (The one real star who won an award and who for years has honed his craft as an actor – and humanitarian; Paul Newman, didn’t bother turning up for his award).
Ironically today was Martin Luther King Day – a public holiday in honour of the reformer who gave his life for a grand cause. Very little airtime on the big networks for that – not with the ‘Globes on. Double irony, the main news item is about a series of crimes where homeless men have been beaten to death by teens... homelessness is a big issue in this global superpower!
It made me think again about how the powers of out age anesthetize and sedate us with a fantasy world that distracts us from reality – we live the Truman show! Do you remember Zaphod Beeplebrox – the president of the Galaxy in Hitch-hikers Guide To The Galaxy: “The role of the president is not to wield power but to distract people from those who do.”
Makes you think...
MLK's speech:
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
I kept ABC on in the background last night to get a feel for the thing - they had a Red Carpet special – with a bubbly presenter interviewing all the stars as they arrived for the big night. Amazing how MUCH fabric the males wear and how surly they are, and how LITTLE fabric the females drape on, and how gushy they are. I really feel I need to use words like ‘fawning’ and ‘sycophantic’ at this point. The mutual admiration, air-kissing, preening, posing. The interesting thing is that most are not great people who have significantly improved the lot of humanity – they are often small-time time wannabes caught up in the fame-game, and adored by the significance starved audience in TV-land. (The one real star who won an award and who for years has honed his craft as an actor – and humanitarian; Paul Newman, didn’t bother turning up for his award).
Ironically today was Martin Luther King Day – a public holiday in honour of the reformer who gave his life for a grand cause. Very little airtime on the big networks for that – not with the ‘Globes on. Double irony, the main news item is about a series of crimes where homeless men have been beaten to death by teens... homelessness is a big issue in this global superpower!
It made me think again about how the powers of out age anesthetize and sedate us with a fantasy world that distracts us from reality – we live the Truman show! Do you remember Zaphod Beeplebrox – the president of the Galaxy in Hitch-hikers Guide To The Galaxy: “The role of the president is not to wield power but to distract people from those who do.”
Makes you think...
MLK's speech:
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
Monday, January 16, 2006
Saturday 14/1/06
THIS is Rubios. This is the place for good mexican food down here, about 5 minutes away from where we are staying!
... and this, 'son of Nun', must abviously be a cantina where bounty hunters hang out...
And this is the local theatre type place....
... and this, 'son of Nun', must abviously be a cantina where bounty hunters hang out...
And this is the local theatre type place....
Sunday, January 15, 2006
THURSDAY 12th of JANUARY 2006
Can you imagine the pain of a neighbourhood, when a 16 year old young man is found dead in a dumpster – probably a victim of gang retribution. Or a two-year-old toddler, trapped in a closed car on a fierce summer’s day. This was part of the sad picture in the vast low-cost housing complex next to Christian City Church, north of LA just a few years ago. This development was so bad that cops would not drive into its streets! Houses were totally dilapidated and unliveable – no grass, paths or gardens just dirt and wire fences and a huge crime rate. 
“The attitude of our little church, just on the edge of this tragedy, was to pray that we’d be kept safe!” said their pastor Jean Birch. “We were a small, aging African-American Baptist church, struggling to work out what God’s mission was for us. Being church has got to be more than just maintaining the regular programs.”We visited Jean at her church on Friday and heard about how God have her s strong conviction that as God’s people they could not ignore the plight of the people on their doorstep. She told us how she prayed that God would open that impossible door. Next Sunday (in good dramatic style) she preached about this. Sitting in church was a dude who was part of a community development corporation – who just happened to know that the whole housing estate was on the market and that ‘Affordable Housing Corp’ was interested in buying it if could partner with a church or something similar!
Long story short, the church has helped totally makeover “King’s Villages” - nearly 40 million dollars later! All the houses have been made over, there’s a community centre, a technology centre, after school tutorial program for the kids, family resourcing, playgrounds , green grass and gardens. Crime has totally plummeted, there’s a police info-station on site, and the congregation has become the church that interfaces with the 400+ residents. 
Over lunch we talked about the project and its significance. Till recently, churches were at the centre of society. Outreach meant running programs to attract, if they were game. The main task of the church was looking after its own, finding new and contemporary ways to keep their finicky followers content! Churches have gotten slicker, more professional, more entertaining, often creating emotional pep-ups rather than growing 24/7 Kingdom people.
This is all changing rapidly. Not only are we in a post-Christian world (most people don’t know or care!). BUT we are in a new global village. Trade counts; consumption counts; people have also become commodities – and are being held captive to a new empire. Here’s what one of our profs, Alan, says:
“We are in a place of such deep change. I have this great disquiet within me – there is a deep process of change happening all about us. These are not just external changes that will leave us as we are or require the church to make minor adjustments. Most of the things we’ve done to this point – better marketing, coffee when you get to church, a variety of options in terms of meeting personal taste in worship styles, using videos rather than sermons, candles in the place of who knows what – all of this is just window dressing in a world that is rapidly losing its way of life, that is perishing in the midst of a sea change none of us can begin to understand. There are questions about the shape of human life and place of the church in it all that can no longer be put off to tomorrow....” We need to change our whole picture... like what people at Christian Bible church and their feisty pastor Jean are modeling, or Ken Fong and the dudes at Evergreen Baptist Community ( Asian-amercian church – same sorta stuff)
- We don’t bring people to church – we go out amongst people and experience their life
- We don’t just preach formulae – we clothe the message in flesh and blood practical love
- We don’t do church on Sundays – we all are missionaries 24/7
- We live out practically Jesus values: simplicity, meditation, charity, generosity, risk-taking and so on – no cop outs!
- We don’t choose churches casually like we choose shoes – we commit to a community of unlikely types who together discover and create God’s impossible dreams
If we did this we would change our western world! And so many of our bored Christian young dudes who live for entertainment would find a far far more edgy life – with no safety protocols.
What do you reckon? In what ways would we do this at Eltham??
Thursday, January 12, 2006
A Tuesday excursion! 11/1/06
We went on an excursion today on the L.A. Train system. About a 40 minute trip through LA central to MaCArthur Park – an inner western part of LA which had the reputation of the roughest, greatest homicide area of CA (Kinda’ like St Kilda or Footscray - squared) and spent the day with the Christian agency that was part of turning it around.Too often churches are ‘holy huddles’ in the safe middle class suburbs that neither understand nor connect with the vast masses of people around them.... particularly the poor or those who can’t access the middle class dream. This is an example of how a bunch of Christians connected up with other civic agencies to bring hope to one of the nations most ‘hopeless’ situations. It makes me reflect on how we do or don’t live as Salt and Light in our context:
MacArthur Park is a park in western Los Angeles, California, and named after General MacArthur. It is located right in the middle of an ethnically Central American part of Los Angeles. One side has a lake on the other, there is a bandshell and amphitheatre. In the 1890s, it was a vacation destination, surrounded by luxury hotels. MacArthur Park is famous for the epic song named after it, written by Jimmy Webb. Before the decline of the neighborhood, the park featured the traditional paddle-boats and a large fountain in the center of the lake - it was a popular middle-class destination for over fifty years.
MacArthur Park became known for being a violent place after 1985 when gang-warfare, drug-dealing, shoot-outs and rumored occasional drownings became common. It was considered a hopeledss place... the only Christian presence was churches rocking up to give food to the homeless (which actually reinforced the situation), or preached AT them ( which didn’t communicate at all, but made the Christians feel better!)Beginning around 2000 the LAPD, business groups, church and community leaders formed the Macarthur Park Alliance, which led to a revitalization effort that turned things around: park surveillance, training for illegal street vendors, increased businesses, family-activities in the park, a new metro station, the return of the paddle boats, and large community festivals attracting thousands. In 2005 the park was celebrated for having the HIGHEST reduction of crime statistics per resident in the United States.
We met up with Joe Colletti ( Director of the Institute for Urban Research) and Sandy Romero who helped set up the Alliance and who also envisioned and run ‘Mama’s Hot Tamales’. Here’s what one Newspaper wrote:
“These days when Dina Serrano sells tamales from her cart in MacArthur Park, she no longer fears getting caught and being fined. In an effort to establish some controls and regulations over street vending activities the Los Angeles City Council passed a Sidewalk Vending Ordinance in 1999 that created the opportunity for interested organizations to create special vending districts in commercially zoned areas for street vendors, because noone was there to resource the vendors, nothing changed. Then in 1999, the Episcopal Diocese stepped in and the MacArthur Park Sidewalk Vending Program was created. The diocese would created the first sidewalk-vending program with the support of the ‘Institute for Urban Research and Development’, a diocesan institution.
It was under Joe Colletti’s leadership that the city’s first sidewalk vending district was launched in November of 1999 at MacArthur Park. ( that's Joe on the left talking with Mark)
This program ( as part of a bigger strategy) now provides street vendors with an opportunity to apply their vending skills. Currently, there are 20 beautifully constructed carts modeled after the carts that are found within Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade. Vendors sell hot foods such as tamales and folk art and crafts from several Latin American countries.
Serrano, a Salvadoran-born immigrant, now sells her tamales from one of the program’s vending carts. Previously, however, she would sell her tamales on the streets and, as a result, became a frequent target of the city’s code enforcement agencies. Several times she has cried out of feelings of sadness and joy; she still remembers all the times that her tamales were taken away from her, and left in her possession was a court citation. “Now,” she says, “I can sell all the tamales I can without expecting someone to suddenly confront me and take all my food and supplies from me. I even bring my children with me who help me set up my cart and foods.”
Colletti has spent the past number of years building a coalition of public and private community support for the vending program. Such support includes the Office of the Mayor and the Council Office of Ed Reyes as well as several City Departments including the Community Development Department and Los Angeles Police Department Rampart Division. Bishop Bruno also participated in the recent ribbon cutting for Mama’s Hot Tamales Café at 2124 W. Seventh St. (one block west of Alvarado Street). 
We had a stimulating time with Joe and Sandy, who manages ‘Mama’s’ hearing the story of how God was at work in the faithfulness - and often messiness of the inner city. One question that arises for me is how we learn from this sort of story. If the Good News can become tangible in such a precinct, then what do we learn about being ‘mission communities where we are? What are the risks, the creativity, the alliances, the discomfort, the opportunities ahead of us?For those of us in a nice leafy, rich suburb such as Eltham, Australia – with our nice safe, cheesy services – what should we be daring? Thoughts?
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
MONDAY 9th Jan 06
First day of class. Interesting how when you meet up with a group of friends you haven’t seen for a year – you can pick up just where you left off!
That’s Mark writing on the board
... and that’s Al, the other prof.
We are in the ‘dungeon’ of the D.Min building – no windows, but good internet reception, so I can listen in on class and sneak out here too.... memories of passing notes at school! That's Brian(L) and Tom (R)
We spent a fair bit of the day doing a stock take of how our years have been. A all the guys here are pastors; about three have moved churches, another couple have had really tough years for all sorts of reasons – some have had good years!
One of the things we are going to do, is spend some time EACH day reading and rereading the New Testament book of Colossians – and asking the question: ‘what does it say to us about being God’s people?’ Interesting that when you read, reread and ‘chew’ on a text far from becoming boring, it does the opposite - you uncover things, you hear things that you can’t see at a cursory skim-through.
Why don’t you try it with me? Try here if you are bible-less: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/
Colosse was a smaller market town on a trade route that had seen better days. It’s ‘sister city’ of Laodeceia was powering on in prestige and wealth, but poor old Colosse had never really recovered from two major earthquakes. There would have been a Jewish community pushing for adherence to Old Testament Law; all manner of mystical ideas; all the traditions found in a smaller town; a reverence for Caesar as Lord, a loss of identity and uncertainty for the future... So why does Paul write these dudes this letter?
Monday night we were all invited to Mark and Nina’s home
for the best Chinese meal! Great hosts, good company!
That’s Mark writing on the board
... and that’s Al, the other prof.
We are in the ‘dungeon’ of the D.Min building – no windows, but good internet reception, so I can listen in on class and sneak out here too.... memories of passing notes at school! That's Brian(L) and Tom (R)
We spent a fair bit of the day doing a stock take of how our years have been. A all the guys here are pastors; about three have moved churches, another couple have had really tough years for all sorts of reasons – some have had good years!
One of the things we are going to do, is spend some time EACH day reading and rereading the New Testament book of Colossians – and asking the question: ‘what does it say to us about being God’s people?’ Interesting that when you read, reread and ‘chew’ on a text far from becoming boring, it does the opposite - you uncover things, you hear things that you can’t see at a cursory skim-through.
Why don’t you try it with me? Try here if you are bible-less: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/
Colosse was a smaller market town on a trade route that had seen better days. It’s ‘sister city’ of Laodeceia was powering on in prestige and wealth, but poor old Colosse had never really recovered from two major earthquakes. There would have been a Jewish community pushing for adherence to Old Testament Law; all manner of mystical ideas; all the traditions found in a smaller town; a reverence for Caesar as Lord, a loss of identity and uncertainty for the future... So why does Paul write these dudes this letter?
Monday night we were all invited to Mark and Nina’s home
for the best Chinese meal! Great hosts, good company!
Monday, January 09, 2006
Saturday
I just slept for 12.5 hours! No way! Only slack adolescents do that .... LOL!
Spent the morning trying to get the stupid wireless system to work here at the guesthouse.
PIC. I can see it, I’m connected but it doesn’t let me use it. ... ‘Found out later it’s new and still got bugs.
Beautiful weather again. They have the BEST weather, sort of like permanent late summer or early autumn, hot but not oppressive. Went out strolling after lunch at Rick's. They make the best hamburgers! They've never even heard of words like ' vegetarian, nutrition, cholesterol...!
Pasadena seems anchored around Colorado boulevard. As you head east you come to ‘new’ Pasadena: all white crisp buildings, boutiques, offices, heritage churches, classy restaurants, aloof middle class types, manicured lawns, hedges clipped into geometric slavery, distant fashionable designer yuppies with just a hint of chin stubble!.... BUT as you head west, over the rise and down the hill you come to ‘old’ Pasadena: narrower roads, loads of chatting people spilling onto the pavements, smells, cheap shops, buskers, beggars, straggly beards and baggy pants, music in disreputable pubs and.... the APPLE SHOP. I like old Pasadena!
The college and the biggest cathedrals are in new Pasadena. Seems a fitting metaphor for where you find western Christians somehow! The stats back home in Melbourne show that for the last 100 years, Christians flee the poorer and messier suburbs for the peace, order and heaven-on-earth safety that middle suburbia bring. Where do I as a Christian feel most at home? If god were one of us, surely he’d hang with the comfortably well off!Hey guess what? Film Guru!! Are you listening?
I went to see ‘MUNICH’ tonight after tea! This is destined to be one of the big films of 2006.
It is Spielberg’s latest epic. Music by John Williams – all-star cast and almost three hours long.It is impressive and disturbing. It deserves its ‘R’ rating here – I’m not sure I’d recommend this version to under 18s...or even anyone plder looking for 'wholesome entertainment'. but it is very powerful. Eric Bana is at his best – deserves an Academy nomination for his portrayal of Avner, the ‘hero’. Geoffrey Rush does well as the gruff old general to whom Avner reports.
Spielberg has done well, a very well crafted film. No dull spots, no Spielberg schmaltz, not just shallow action.
The pre-publicity made me assume it was just a rehashing of the 1972 massacre at the Munich Olympics – when a squad of Black September terrorists kidnapped 11 Israeli athletes – and then it all went wrong and kidnappers, and the kidnapped all died in a fiery shoot out. I thought it would be kind of a moralistic documentary... But it isn’t , it has a thought provoking political agenda.
The ’72 massacre acts as the backdrop and motive for the characters here... The Palestinian radicals who want to capitalise on the publicity and increase their resistance to the state of Israel, seeking retribution and land for their ‘family’; and the Israelis’ who are mortified, angry and want to strike at their enemies for the sake of their ‘family’
The plot centers around a top secret Israeli assassination squad contracted to ‘takeout’ the 11 Palestinian heavies behind the massacre. Avner (Bana) is the team leader of the squad – and there is plenty of well scripted espionagesque action and suspense on the squad’s journey.
What makes the film interesting is Avner’s emotional and mental journey.
What is justice? What happens when you make your ‘family’ your measure for righteousness?
There is a scene somewhere in the story where Avner and a colleague – black faced for camouflage - are running through the night from the scene of one of their executions – and the light catches their wide red eyes in the gloom – and you realise the demon-hunters have become the demons! This becomes disturbing because we live in a world where our loyalties are not to absolute moralities but subjective. Our friends, families, quality of life, expediency, feelings, or social context have become the guide. Dehumanise another as a personal threat to life – and any anything is justifiable – you gain life but lose your soul! This film will generate a fair mesure of controversy. What do you think?
STILL FRIDAY MORNING – LA TIME (6/1/06)
Tired as after four thousand hours of overly dried air and booming engine noise! I wondered whether US customs would select me for a special going
over because I’ve kept my wispy greying middle eastern beard this trip – and I do have IRAQ as birthplace in my passport!Those guys at US customs in their black uniforms and ‘Dept of Homeland security’ NEVER smile. Don’t waste taxi driver clichés like: “Been busy?” or “ Worked here long?” or “ Ever done a cavity search?”
Well .... The guy did all the stuff they now do, fingerprints, picture, stamping passports, scribbling on visas, handed me back my papers .... and then said “ Follow me sir”
AND I DID GET MY OWN SPECIAL INTERVIEW! With a ranking officer in an even more intimidating black outfit – with sidearm. Turns out it had nothing to do with beard or birthplace ... It’s a technicality because they are changing their procedures on the sort of study visa I have. Be warned any future students! The fact that I don’t LIVE fulltime in the US throws a blip onto their computer earning me an interview!Then I collected my bags
and waited for the bus-shuttle to Pasadena, about a 40-minute drive northwest of downtown LA.
There is a ring of quite tall mountains around LA,
which itself is quite flat, the mountain chain is further away than it look. Quite bizarre, the weather here is a beautiful tropical low 30s but the mountains to the west are seriously snow capped. Quite stunning, actually.Had a long chat with Barbara, another passenger. She is 55, from St Louis Missouri here to surprise visit her mum for her eightieth birthday. She has two boys; Seth 23, a slack computer animation graduate working for Target in Arizona! [LOL sounds like tautology] who is going out with the gorgeous Maree, who seems to have a plan for his life! [Don’t they all]. Mat, 21 is an engineer with the Marines. “It’s ironic, when I was young I was a peacenik! Protested against Vietnam, flower-power and all – and even now, I think the Iraq war is all wrong – but my son turns out a marine!”
Barbara is a Christian who goes to Grace Church: “ I feel that they believe I’m a heretic because I keep saying Christians need to learn to THINK and question stuff, but they are all so predictably conservative. Sunday faith and then they live secular lives Monday thru Saturday!”
I like Barb! She has had a hard life! Her hubby walked out on her when the kids were toddlers. She lost her job and battled as a ‘self employed’ artist for the next many years. Her second husband, an ex-army vet has had a major breakdown and can’t face life, and she’s just discovered that she has a major illness herself – so she can’t work anymore or do her glass-art either- and yet she is so friendly and positive!
“ I don’t believe in being bitter, it just destroys you. You have to accept your life, the good and the bad and look for the positives. There is always so much to be grateful for, there is always hope. My faith sustains me.”
Interesting – you can never tell where angels pop up!
This is the front of the main part of FFuller -quite scenic actually...
So tired tonight (LA time) I keep dropping out like a phone in the mountains! I keep telling myself to keep typing or whatever... the next thing I recall is that I’m asleep, bizarre thing is jet lag. I’ll just type aonther pragarghhghhhh tehn Ill go to spleeeeeeeee....
Saturday, January 07, 2006
FRIDAY MIDDAY (AUSSIE TIME) – QUASI-CHRISTIANS?
Friday midday. Finally on board – got an aisle seat, which I think is the best option outside of an exit row seat, or of course a or first class seat!
The couple across the aisle from me are a very respectable, very serious looking older couple, American by their accent and by her stereotypical ‘winged’ reading glasses. She is reading what looks to be a Christian version of the ‘Mars and Venus’ book about marriage – I caught a glimpse about God in her chapter heading, AND the cover has a LIBRARY label from some Baptist Church library on it. She is reading, underlining and taking serious notes. I reckon they are church heavies on the way home having visited pagan Australia – am I a good secret agent or what?!
As she’s sitting there reading; an OVERLY friendly (you've got to hate overly-friendly?) flight attendant walks down the aisle and reads over her shoulder. “How to have a fulfilling marriage!” he reads out loud in his Aussie twang; “Strewth, that’s a contradiction in terms, ha! ha! ha! Good luck to you, let me know if you find the answer,” he booms out.
A few minutes later he shouts back down the aisle: “Have you heard this one? What’s the best form of contraception? WEDDING CAKE, Ha! Ha! Ha!” Ah, Aussie cross cultural sensitivity, you gotta love it!
I’m sitting next to Joe and his wife Nikki, an LA couple aged in their late twenties. Relly nice couple. They are on their way home from Melbourne where he’s been best-man at an American mate’s wedding – who’s married himself an aussie shiela.
They ask me what my trip was about. I’m always interested how people react to finding out I’m in the pastorin’ caper – so many deeply held assumptions... But Joe nodded understandingly: “I went to Lutheran seminary and worked as a youth worker for a number of years,” he replied, “turned out that I never finished the ordination thing, ended up in a totally different area.”
Joe is a muso who now works at MTV headquarters in compiling play-lists for syndication! On the side he still plays (with average success, I gather!) In clubs and pubs.
Nikki works for a Hollywood charitable organisation called Project AngelFood, that raises money and provides food and resources for the thousands of AIDS victims in the LA region. “ People don’t realise that in a wealthy place like LA we have so many poor and marginalised, and there is nothing for them.”
She works in fundraising; contacting celebrities for sponsorship – with some success I gather.
It is interesting that whilst both of them have a definite Christian faith, neither they, nor their friends have any engagement with the church – or even assume that organised Christianity has ANYTHING to say outside of the narrow agenda of individualistic morality.
“We were talking about religion before the wedding, and my friend [the groom] said he thought there were no more real Christians left in the world, that we were probably it. We all agreed that organised Christianity is pretty irrelevant these days.”
Interesting, these are well-educated, successful young adults. They are not hostile – indeed they affirm belief in a rudimentary faith - but in their life networks they cannot see evidence of relevant Christian faith. They have no knowledge as to what positive things might be happening, faithwise – But they are still living lives of faith and selflessly engaging in humanitarian activities.... quasi-Christians maybe?
How true is this for the 25-30s – “We believe the basics, will try to live responsibly, but we can’t see and don’t connect with organised religion”
The issue of how to be God's people relevantly is what my course here is about. One of the cool books I've just finished reading: Lesslie Newbigin: A Word in Season: Perspectives on Christian World Missions, can the secular West be 'converted to faith'?
..... On the other aisle, the respectable elderly Christian lady (with impeccable seriously set hair) has just laughed that sort of laugh which polite elderly Christian ladies laugh when they read something very funny but just a bit rude.
She’s rocking from side to side, going red with hand on mouth trying to stifle the giggle. Can’t quite see what chapter she’s reading, but its bought our Qantas steward come racing down the aisle grinning expectantly: “Find something tasty? Show us?”
The couple across the aisle from me are a very respectable, very serious looking older couple, American by their accent and by her stereotypical ‘winged’ reading glasses. She is reading what looks to be a Christian version of the ‘Mars and Venus’ book about marriage – I caught a glimpse about God in her chapter heading, AND the cover has a LIBRARY label from some Baptist Church library on it. She is reading, underlining and taking serious notes. I reckon they are church heavies on the way home having visited pagan Australia – am I a good secret agent or what?!
As she’s sitting there reading; an OVERLY friendly (you've got to hate overly-friendly?) flight attendant walks down the aisle and reads over her shoulder. “How to have a fulfilling marriage!” he reads out loud in his Aussie twang; “Strewth, that’s a contradiction in terms, ha! ha! ha! Good luck to you, let me know if you find the answer,” he booms out.A few minutes later he shouts back down the aisle: “Have you heard this one? What’s the best form of contraception? WEDDING CAKE, Ha! Ha! Ha!” Ah, Aussie cross cultural sensitivity, you gotta love it!
I’m sitting next to Joe and his wife Nikki, an LA couple aged in their late twenties. Relly nice couple. They are on their way home from Melbourne where he’s been best-man at an American mate’s wedding – who’s married himself an aussie shiela.
They ask me what my trip was about. I’m always interested how people react to finding out I’m in the pastorin’ caper – so many deeply held assumptions... But Joe nodded understandingly: “I went to Lutheran seminary and worked as a youth worker for a number of years,” he replied, “turned out that I never finished the ordination thing, ended up in a totally different area.”
Joe is a muso who now works at MTV headquarters in compiling play-lists for syndication! On the side he still plays (with average success, I gather!) In clubs and pubs.
Nikki works for a Hollywood charitable organisation called Project AngelFood, that raises money and provides food and resources for the thousands of AIDS victims in the LA region. “ People don’t realise that in a wealthy place like LA we have so many poor and marginalised, and there is nothing for them.”
She works in fundraising; contacting celebrities for sponsorship – with some success I gather.
It is interesting that whilst both of them have a definite Christian faith, neither they, nor their friends have any engagement with the church – or even assume that organised Christianity has ANYTHING to say outside of the narrow agenda of individualistic morality.
“We were talking about religion before the wedding, and my friend [the groom] said he thought there were no more real Christians left in the world, that we were probably it. We all agreed that organised Christianity is pretty irrelevant these days.”
Interesting, these are well-educated, successful young adults. They are not hostile – indeed they affirm belief in a rudimentary faith - but in their life networks they cannot see evidence of relevant Christian faith. They have no knowledge as to what positive things might be happening, faithwise – But they are still living lives of faith and selflessly engaging in humanitarian activities.... quasi-Christians maybe?
How true is this for the 25-30s – “We believe the basics, will try to live responsibly, but we can’t see and don’t connect with organised religion”
The issue of how to be God's people relevantly is what my course here is about. One of the cool books I've just finished reading: Lesslie Newbigin: A Word in Season: Perspectives on Christian World Missions, can the secular West be 'converted to faith'?
..... On the other aisle, the respectable elderly Christian lady (with impeccable seriously set hair) has just laughed that sort of laugh which polite elderly Christian ladies laugh when they read something very funny but just a bit rude.
She’s rocking from side to side, going red with hand on mouth trying to stifle the giggle. Can’t quite see what chapter she’s reading, but its bought our Qantas steward come racing down the aisle grinning expectantly: “Find something tasty? Show us?”
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Last night at home!!
My last evening at home. Tomorrow King Kohl and JasroTherus are driving me to Tulla! I leave at noon.
Tonight, we three watche Hotel Rawanda. Based on a true story, it talks about the genocide in Rawanda in 1994 when almost a million people died in just 10 weeks. Can you picture that?
The thing that made me fume again, i've seen this film before - was that the west stood by idly, recuing its own nationals but leaving the Tutsis and moderate hutus to their fate... and that western interests profitted by the sale of arms to the combatants; and much of the tension arose out of European colonialization last century on.
We westerners can't afford to slap ourselves on the back too hard, not at all!
Anyway, I'm not looking forward all that much to squillions of hours scrunched up in a flying tin box; dryed out air, continous background rooooar, "interesting food'... 'Hope i don't get sat next to a toddler!
I'll tell you about my study in Pasadena, about 40 minutes northwest of L.A. when I get there. last year it DELUGED for the first two days, like e Noah's Ark serious, then cleared up to Gold Coast paradisw for the rest of the time. I hear its been wet so far. It's good value! There are about twenty duded in the class, all ministers , but but but ... they are actually NORMAL, OK? Not one Mr Bean singing in church type amongst them!
here's the front of the guesthouse.... It's quite comfortable, about a five minute walk to the college itself, about 10 minutes to the shops... and about a twenty minute walk to the BEST Apple shop ever - heaven!!
Catch you soon! Rev!
Tonight, we three watche Hotel Rawanda. Based on a true story, it talks about the genocide in Rawanda in 1994 when almost a million people died in just 10 weeks. Can you picture that?
The thing that made me fume again, i've seen this film before - was that the west stood by idly, recuing its own nationals but leaving the Tutsis and moderate hutus to their fate... and that western interests profitted by the sale of arms to the combatants; and much of the tension arose out of European colonialization last century on. We westerners can't afford to slap ourselves on the back too hard, not at all!
Anyway, I'm not looking forward all that much to squillions of hours scrunched up in a flying tin box; dryed out air, continous background rooooar, "interesting food'... 'Hope i don't get sat next to a toddler!
I'll tell you about my study in Pasadena, about 40 minutes northwest of L.A. when I get there. last year it DELUGED for the first two days, like e Noah's Ark serious, then cleared up to Gold Coast paradisw for the rest of the time. I hear its been wet so far. It's good value! There are about twenty duded in the class, all ministers , but but but ... they are actually NORMAL, OK? Not one Mr Bean singing in church type amongst them!
here's the front of the guesthouse.... It's quite comfortable, about a five minute walk to the college itself, about 10 minutes to the shops... and about a twenty minute walk to the BEST Apple shop ever - heaven!!
Catch you soon! Rev!
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