Seasons
Its great to dream, but get
real
The Government has established a
Task Force to come up with ideas for boosting NZ's productivity. Interestingly John
Key commented, 'I don't want to curtail
thinking but, obviously, in the end there is no point in coming up with
policies unless they are implementable'. We live in a culture where businesses are
encouraged to expand, young people are encouraged to dream big for their
future, farmers are encouraged to lift productivity, churches are encouraged to
be visionary, and so on. But dreams need to be on the earth not in the clouds.
It's great to dream but get real
with your budget. Interest rates change, jobs get lost.
It's great to dream but get real
with your energy. Dreams don't sustain themselves.
It's great to dream but get real
with how immovable some people are. They aren't going to change.
It's great to dream but get real
with your time. Sacrificing your family will ruin any dream.
It's great to dream but get real
with our temporary culture. We're a society of fads and fashion.
It's great to dream but get real with
your supporters. There will be all sorts of coming and going.
It's great to
dream but get real with your faith. It
needs good nourishment along the way.
I actually think that the best
way to be earthed in our dreams is to be 'heavenly minded'. The much quoted
verse (Proverbs 29:18) Where there is no
vision the people perish' (AV) is better translated, 'Where there is no
revelation ...' (NIV) or 'A nation without God's guidance ...' (GNB).
re-forming church -
Two sides, that are hard to get together.
The
first: the necessary re-shaping of the church today is not to be some consent
to the desires of Christians to be more in tune with their changing lives. It
is primarily about becoming more 'mission-shaped', more in tune with the
culture of the people we are trying to engage with the grace of Christ. Their
culture is changing and the challenge for the church is to listen carefully,
then birth new forms of church and fresh expressions of faith in that culture.
The
second: is to know what to embrace and what to leave. For example one writer
contends that a fundamental script of our society is that 'we can engage in
pleasurable and profitable behaviours with undesired consequences and either
avoid the consequences or clean them up later'. (Amazing how many people try to
avoid the sowing / reaping law.) So how
do the people of God become 'mission-shaped' in a culture with that sort of
value?
Perhaps
we need to learn how to dance more. Not classical ballet with its set structures,
but a modern dance experimenting with form and flow. And thereby creating new
shapes of worship, mission and community that are for them not just for us.
a celtic prayer -
Help
us Lord
To live in your light
To act in your might
To think in your wisdom
To walk in your kingdom
To abide in your love
Your presence to prove.
Amen
sunday@
Discovery - 'Faith beyond Israel' - reflections from Luke 7:1-10
sunday@ Oaks - 'Seeing through our doubts' - reflections
about John the Baptist from Luke 7:18-28
coming up - 'Who's got Talent' A fantastic
fun evening for everyone from Discovery & Oaks - Sat Aug 22nd
SIGN
OFF
I
head off to the Council of Assembly tomorrow to help present a paper
recommending some significant changes. We have already had some REACTION! Should
be an interesting meeting, and we would appreciate your prayer.
Thinking
of you - the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you - today.
Garry
End quote: 'Lasting missional transformation
cannot be done by large scale plans imposed upon people. It is done by initiating
all manner of experiments around the edges where people are given permission to
try out what they are learning. These experiments are not about creating
permanent change. They are about retesting and discovering along the way. The
beauty of such experiments is that, like the wind of the Spirit in our sails,
there is no telling where they'll take a congregation.' Roxburgh and Romanuk
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