Nomadic Faith

One day we will share lives with those who will stand with us in our hour of need

Today is not that day

One day there will be relief from our stress and fears

Today is not that day

Alone

Plead

Tears

Sweat

Blood

One day there may be trust, friends who will not betray us

Today is not that day

One day there may be peace and not violence

Today is not that day

Push

Shove

Strike

Confused

Capture

One day there will be fairness and justice

Today is not that day

One day there will be honor and respect

Today is not that day

Shout

Jeer

Ridicule

Pain

Pain!

One day they will lift me up,

but not in this way

One day they will reach for me,

but not in this way

Beaten

Bruised

Wounded

Pierced

Crushed

One day this suffering will end

Today is not that day

One day you will hold me again

Today is not that day

Thirst

Tired

Why?

Forsaken

Death

One day there will be love, joy, peace.

Life.

Today is not that day

A friend asked me today what my “theological position” was on owning property.  Here are some random thoughts:

I have a couple of related views that I would say are more "interpreted values" than hard-line beliefs.

I think it is wise to establish your business solidly before purchasing / building a house (Proverbs 24:27)

Practically speaking, a house (that you live in) is a very large outlay of funds that does not provide a return (except on capital growth), and so you would be far better off investing that money into income producing assets first, and then purchase a house on the return of that investment (leaving you with both a house and remaining investment capital).

I think this is the "wisdom" behind Proverbs 24:27 - too many people chase their own tail or end up in a career they can’t escape in order to service their mortgages.

I could go on with other thoughts about lost capital, and rent vs mortgage but they aren’t necessarily theological.

I would prefer to avoid a mortgage.

This is seen as almost an impossibility today, but possibly only because we all want houses that we can’t really afford (to keep up with the Joneses) and because our housing market (land values mainly) are inflated because the access to housing finance that we do have makes the land we do buy seem more affordable than it is.

The bible has some things to say about usury (interest) and debt (Exodus 22:25, Leviticus 25:36, Proverbs 22:7) that leads me to think that it is best avoided (but not necessarily wrong).

Too many of us find our worth in our house

This is a tough one - our society judges our "success" on a) our house and b) our car, though it is funny to think I can go out and get a house loan and a car loan tomorrow, and be more "successful" but have no change in net worth (if not worse off).

And to make it tougher - the above principals only prove themselves after half a lifetime.  In the mean time, society says you are wrong and after that society doesn’t care because it looks too much like hard work (you won’t sell any books).

How we put this into practice?  Well, my wife and I have come to a resolve that we are happy renting until the time is right to buy or build.  We pay far more rent than I’d like, but that is only because of the area we live in (and believe we have been sent to) and it is still very low compared to the mortgage if we owned the place.  In the mean time, I throw money into my business, because our business (God willing) will be what provides for our family and the work that we have to do into the future.

One day I’d like to buy a bush block somewhere, and over time build a house on it.  It would likely be a smaller house, and my goal would be to build it without using debt.  We would use it more as a retreat / holiday home until we retired, when it would become our home.

Also, it must be said that whatever we do we should do it for God’s honour, considering the work of the Kingdom, and reflecting Jesus’ character.

Here’s a recording of phone call I had with Dr Andrew Corbett for a study I led last night.

The topic was on 1 Corinthians 5 and the seemingly opposing viewpoints between 1 Corinthians 4 where it tells us not to judge, and a book later in 1 Corinthians 5, where it tells us specifically that it is our role to judge*

Deep

Download / listen to MP3 recording

*It tells us to judge others within our walls, and explicitly not those who do not claim to be Christians – that’s not our right.

Join myself and my mate Rob down at the local.

The Matt and Rob Pubcast

Pentecostalism ≠ evangelicalism ≠ fundamentalism.  Did you know that?

In fact, Pentecostalism has it’s roots in the Methodist holiness movement, the same movement that the Salvation Army was born out of, which in turn is where I started my journey of faith.

In it’s early days, Pentecostalism had strong ties with emancipation, woman’s suffrage, social justice, liberality and pacifism.  It was characterised by the coming together of all races and “classes” - without discrimination - to worship God and see the broken set free supernaturally.

This is liberating to me, because over this past weekend I was led through a life changing series of experiences that swept me back into my core Pentecostal beliefs that I had almost left behind.

I had almost left them behind, because they seemed to me to be so tied up with other experiences in my past - legalism, prosperity theology, institutionalism, empiricism, selfish ambition and subcultures - that seems to me to be incompatible with the Gospel.

But Pentecostalism is not about all that.

I was gracefully shown this through this week’s Podcast of ‘Speaking of Faith’ with Krista Tippit.  I started to listen to this podcast when she once featured Shane Claibourne.

So I can still believe that God moves supernaturally, and in profound, powerful ways in a person’s life, and yet still practice Love, reject capitalism and meet organically, because this also seems to be the beliefs of the early Pentecostals.

That is good to know.

If in Australia? 

My blindness and ignorance is disturbing.  A sickness.  A virus that has infected most of western civilization it seems.

A remedy…

Hello. This is Coco Wang. As you know the breaking news of 5.12 Earthquake in China, almost all the TV channels in China are broadcasting 24 hours non-stop of every development and stories of all the rescue operations in all damaged locations.

I don’t know how much information the BBC or any UK media received from us, I imagine the UK audiences were presented with the major developments of the incident, but you are probably unaware of many important and inside details which are only known to people inside China.

The amount of incredibly moving stories of victims, rescuers, and volunteers is simply shocking at the moment. I have been collecting newspapers of all the stories, and telling them in the form of comic strips. I hope these stories could show the UK readers the love, warmth and courage of the Chinese people, also the sad and cruel reality of the horrible 5.12 Earthquake.

I am back home in Beijing now. Thousands of heart-breaking stories are happening 24 hours non-stop everyday, some are so sad that you can hardly bear, some are incredibly moving that you just can’t stop crying… I wanted to go to the front to help with all those people, some of my friends have already gone there, but I heard that the traffic needed to be kept totally clear for rescue transportation at the moment, people like me without knowledge of first-aid and experience of rescue operations going there now would cause choas and trouble… but I can’t just sit at home and do nothing, I have been crying my eyes out in the past three days, I have never felt more proud of my country and people… their love, courage and kindness rock me to my core! I have decided to tell these touching stories by drawing comics. I am going to send you comic strips almost everyday from now on, I hope you could know something about the earthquake in China, although you don’t have to do anything, but I hope you could feel our love and hope.

Thank you all so much.

Coco Wang

[click images to enlarge - you need to read these]

http://earthquakestrips.blogspot.com/

To all readers.  All two of you.  I need to hear your answer (or at least discussion) on this question:  When does confidence cross the line into pride?

Let’s pose some hypotheticals (and yes, I know I just turned an adjective into a noun).

In your job, you’re pretty sure you know what you are talking about most of the time.  You even consider yourself a bit of an expert.  Knowing that sometimes you can still be wrong, how confidently can you express your opinion as fact before you really are acting, or at least come across as arrogant?  Does it matter that some would see you as arrogant?

Or say you feel like pod-casting is something that you should be doing.  You know that you are not incredibly eloquent or as creative as some out there.  You sometimes use words or clichés completely out of context.  You have some ideas, but not sure they are worth sharing.  Should you just take the plunge and throw caution to the wind and do it, not caring what others think, in the hope that you have some chance of achieving what you set out to do?

Now don’t even think of going anywhere before answering this question…

               …  Oops! - was that too proud?

Yes, lose your faith. Lose your faith in God. For as the French mystic Simone Weil insisted, there is a kind of atheism that is purifying, cleansing us of idols. Lose your faith in the god that the cross exposes as a no-god, a sham god. Lose your faith in the god who is but the product of your projections, fantasies, wishes, and needs, a security blanket or good-luck charm god. Lose your faith in the god who is there to hold your hand, solve your problems, rescue you from your trials and tribulations, the deus ex machina, literally the “machine god”, wheeled out onto the stage in ancient Greek drama, introduced to the plot artificially to resolve its complications and secure a happy ending. Lose your faith in the god who confers upon you a privileged status that is safe and secure. Lose your faith in the god who promises you health, wealth, fulfilment, and success, who pulls rabbits out of hats. Lose your faith in the god with whom your conscience can be at ease with itself. Lose your faith in the god who, in Dennis Potter’s words, is the bandage, not the wound. Lose your faith in the god who always answers when you pray and comes when you call. Lose your faith in the god who is never hidden, absent, dead, entombed. For the “Father who art in heaven” – this week he is to be found in hell – with his Son.

..

So, yes, lose your faith! For as with life, so with faith: only those who lose it will find it. Or rather may find it. Faith is a risk, and discipleship demands that we learn to live with insecurity and uncertainty, setting out on a journey without a map, with companions who are as lost as we are, following a leader who is always way ahead of us, beckoning mysteriously, “Follow me!”, and then vanishing just as we arrive. God is mystery, ineffable mystery, naming a reality that we know, but the more we know, the more we are forced to un-know and rethink everything we thought we knew.

http://faith-theology.blogspot.com/2008/03/palm-sunday-sermon-lose-your-faith.html

God blesses you when you are mocked and persecuted and lied about because you are a follower of Jesus.

Jesus said, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but I, the Son of Man, have no home of my own, not even a place to lay my head.” .. “Follow me now! Let those who are spiritually dead care for their own dead.”

You will be handed over to the courts and beaten in the synagogues. And you must stand trial before governors and kings because you are his follower.

Brother will betray brother to death, fathers will betray their own children, and children will rise against their parents and cause them to be killed. And everyone will hate you all over the world because of your allegiance to Jesus.

The student shares the teacher’s fate. The servant shares the master’s fate. And since Jesus, the master of the household, have been called the prince of demons, how much more will it happen to you, a member of the household!

If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Jesus.  Whoever wants to be a leader must be a servant, and whoever wants to be first must become a slave.

On judgment day many will tell Jesus, ‘Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’  But he will reply, ‘I never knew you. Go away; the things you did were not for me.’

[His words, not mine]

http://asbojesus.wordpress.com/2008/02/25/390/