Seasons

 

            Should you whack your kids?

 

Now I have your attention!  The referendum question seems simple enough: 'Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?'Although interestingly if, after considering all the issues, you're in favour of smacking you have to vote 'No, and if you are against you have to vote 'Yes'. Simple question - perhaps not, for it seems to me there are a number of other questions clustered around this one.

 

Can we assume that Kiwis agree on what a 'smack' is, and what 'good parental correction' means?

What do the petitioners actually want? Is it a return to the old law, and is that the best way to go?

Have parents been dis-empowered by the new law?

How clear are we about the effectiveness of smacking?

Should the Government legislate at all about what happens between parents and children?

Why are kiwis so in love with punishment? From punishing children to soaring imprisonment rates.

Might the new law be one step of many in dealing with abuse? Think of the long campaign required to change behaviour regarding drink-driving.

 

However we may vote, we need to have a positive understanding of the task of 'discipline'. (Same root as 'disciple') It is primarily about training, coaching, guiding, reinforcing, encouraging, explaining, demonstrating, and helping children learn from experience.  'Parents, do not exasperate your children; instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.' Ephesians 6:4

 

 re-forming church -   communion

In Seasons # 135 I wrote of the imprisonment of preaching by the church in the church. I am wondering if the same thing  is true about the sacraments. So I am asking, what exactly did Jesus have in mind for the Lord's Supper / Communion / Eucharist / Mass? Was it the structured, symbolic, in-house meal of the church?

 

It has been interesting watching the changes in Presbyterian understanding over the last 30 years: from a meal restricted to church members, to invitations that used words such as 'all who love the Lord', to the inclusion of children.  Then last Friday I led a communion service at the Desert Spring Garden/Nursery that included Christians and others not yet, but on the way.  Belonging before believing. Also, the Lord's Supper was birthed out of the Jewish Passover, an inclusive meal that included 'the alien and the native born'.

 

Can the sacraments be set free from their imprisonment in the church? Should they?

 

 violent wind of the Spirit -

            Wind, one of the signs of the Spirit at Pentecost 'a sound like the blowing of a violent wind' Acts 2:2

Praying:

Come, violent wind of the Spirit

            Blow away the chaff of a cluttered life

Blow away the dead leaves of wasted time and pointless tasks

            Blow away the awful smell of worries about 'what shall we eat or wear'.

 

Come, violent wind of the Spirit

            Blow in focused faith in place of fear

Blow in kingdom courage in place of timidity

Blow in the fragrance of Christ centred living.

Amen. 

 

 sunday@discovery - The Holy Spirit and mission - what is the Spirit saying to the church?

 sunday @oaks -  The Holy Spirit and our inner life

 sign off -

I was away last week for a three day gathering of church leaders, and among other things experience amazing hospitality. Hosts who gave their best to look after my needs and enrich my visit, and the sense of the Lord being hospitable to me in them. Hospitality - a magnificent gift, and one we can all give. The grace of open homes and open hearts.

May you be warm in the cold.

Blessings,

Garry

 

            End quote: 'It is the responsibility of every Christian to carve out a soul-satisfying life under the loving rule of God, so that sin does not look good.'  Dallas Willard

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