JH put me on to this. Microsoft Songsmith takes a vocal track and generates backing music. People have been having a blast taking classic songs and getting Songsmith to generate these dreadful accompaniments. Here is the Songsmith version of Stairway to Heaven...
In case you missed it, you can watch the story here. A pretty sympathetic piece. Interesting to get a glimpse inside his church and home...
There's a very interesting interview Jeremy did with Phillip in the latest SX. They make mention of "white flight" - the fact that anglos are moving away from Sydney and other cultures are moving in. J mentioned that Sydney loses 60,000 native English speakers each year, and P mentioned that we've lost 80,000 Anglicans from Sydney over the last five years.
Given that anglos have been our traditional membership, this has profound implications for the future of our church in Sydney. J does not exagerate when he describes it as our most pressing challenge. We need to do more to reach other cultures. We've done lots of good stuff already, we need to keep pressing forward, especially with asian Sydney.
In the spirit of this, it's really pleasing to see the lauch of South West Chinese Christian Church, a partnership between CCC and the Sydney Diocese. My friends Sam and Soph are part of this church plant, please pray that God blesses it richly.
I mentioned below that I was involved in a new writing project. Quite a few of the details have been published in the February SX, so I can share that information with you. The Sydney Anglicans website is moving toward a blog-centric approach to it's content. They will be publishing several pieces a day on a variety of topics, and from a variety of authors. They've asked me to contribute a weekly post on the subjects of music and everyday Christian living.
SX mentions a number of the other authors - Michael Jensen, Karen Sowada, Phillip Jensen, Rob Forsyth, Archie Poulos, Jodie McNeill, Steve Kryger, Peter Jensen, Kara Martin, John Dickson, Greg Clarke and Mark Hadley. It's a really exciting stable and I'm expecting some excellent content to be produced. Hope you'll check it out...
One of the classic old faqs of Christianity is, "Do you need to go to church to be a Christian?" My boys even asked me this a couple of weeks ago. Typical evangelical response is, "No, however..." This is because our evangelicalism is so individualistic, all about me and my personal faith. But God always calls people into a community, a community of his people. When people ask that question now, I generally say, "Yes." and then qualify it later if I need to. I guess someone could be a Christian and not go to church, but they would have to be a very very sick and dysfunctional Christian, not in a healthy relationship with God at all, and in ugent need of healing.
Today is J's second day at the new school. Yesterday went really well, he said he had a great time, and he'd immediately made 5 or 6 friends. I'm really pleased. Haven't been posting much because I've been doing the Mr Mum thing, just getting all that sorted. Also been spending lots of time with the new g/f. Also been doing a fair bit of writing for another project, something *really* exciting, which I'll be able to give you more details on in a couple of days...
I read about this in Rolling Stone. It's a form of alternative goods and services trading scheme, operating at a local level. Very interesting...
Just discovered these at the local bookshop. Some good titles there, and all less than $10...
Rach writes an excellent post on the sin of discontentment. Interestingly, our community group last night looked a contentment and satisfaction in the Bible. A general thread through Scripture is that envy and a wrong attitude toward money will lead to discontentment, whilst seeking after God, living in fear of Him, will lead to contentment and satisfaction. The materialism of our culture has certainly taken a grip of most Christians I know, to a greater or lesser extent (myself included). If we were truly spiritual, we would hold onto the things of this world with a light grip, and we would not be too bothered by the loss of material possessions or money. It's a great challenge...
Went to evening church last night and my eldest, J, came along. After church a few people were having Thai and hanging out. J stayed back and I went home to be with his brothers. J got home quite late, after 10. He'd had a great time and stayed back to help pack up. He said to me, "So, what were challenged by in the sermon tonight?" And we had a chat about that. He also said he'd like to go to evening church regularly, and join a weekly home group.
I was so pleased by all this, to seem him transitioning out of the kids programs into adult church. It is something you think about a lot as your kids grow older. I heard a talk recently by one of our well known local preachers, who mentioned that his two oldest kids are currently not walking with the Lord. There are no guarantees here. I'm grateful to see J making these steps, really pleased.
A friend told me an amazing story yesterday, the story of how he came to Australia. His father was a high ranking soldier in the south Vietnamese army during the Vietnam war. His family suffered terrible persecution after the communists took over, and in the early 80s he fled the country. He faced pirates, starvation, drowning and more before he finally landed in Malaysia and was accepted as a refugee (he now has an excellent career in our country, and is a productive citizen). He is so appreciative of living in a free country, by the way.
Hearing a story like that, my first reaction was, "My problems are so small." But I don't think that's quite the right reaction - we all have genuine troubles, and they are significant even if they are not on the same scale as some. A better reaction is to be encouraged by the people who endure terrible hardships, and to learn from the example of their courage.
I just read the following from a talk Piper gave on Womanhood (ht: rd), and it was inspiring. The world will not understand these sentiments -
I don't like wimpy women. I didn't marry one. With Noel, I'm trying to raise Talitha, who turns 13 on Saturday, not to be one. The opposite of a wimpy woman is not a brash, pushy, loud, controlling, sassy, uppity, arrogant Amazon.
The opposite of a wimpy woman is 14-year-old Marie Durant when in the 17th century in France was arrested for being a Protestant, put in prison, and told, "You may get out for one phrase: I abjure." She wrote on the wall of her cell, "I resist," and stayed there 38 years until she was dead doing just that.1 That's the opposite of a wimpy woman.
Another opposite of a wimpy woman is Gladys Staines. In 1999, remember the story? After serving for three decades with her husband Graham in India, to the lepers, heard one day that her husband Graham and little Phillip (10) and Timothy (6) had been set on fire, burned alive in the back of their car. She said to the newspapers, "I have only one message for the people of India. I am not bitter, neither am I angry. Let us burn hatred and spread the flame of Christ's love."
The opposite of a wimpy woman is her daughter, well named, Esther. When asked by the reporters, "How do you feel about your father's murder?" She said (she was 13), "I praise the Lord that He found my father worthy to die for Him."
Nearly 2 years ago I read about 10 books on evangelism and reviewed them on my now defunct podcast. The audio is long since gone, but you can see the list of books here.
Overseas Council International
Praise God for the recent Institute for Excellence in Christian Leadership Development in India. This was the eleventh such Institute that Overseas Council held during 2008. Two dozen leaders from 15 colleges around South Asia gathered together for training to become more effective principals and deans in their colleges. Jennifer Taaffe, an OCA Director, also attended this Institute.
Christian Leaders Training College, Papua New Guinea
Please pray for the Faculty as they prepare for the new college year, for new students arriving and settling in, and continuing students who are returning. Please pray also for God's protection over the 3 CLTC Centres as security continues to be an issue.
Lanka Bible College and Lanka Graduate Centre, Sri Lanka
Both colleges opened for the new school term earlier this month and began with registration of new students. Praise God that both the main campus and the Graduate Centre had increases in the numbers of students. New Masters level courses have been introduced at the Graduate Centre and as a result the South Asian Bible Colleges have identified LGC as the "leader in providing quality education." Please pray that God will continue to bless the work of the college and thank Him that He will always be faithful to those who serve Him.
Myanmar Evangelical Graduate School of Theology, Myanmar
Please pray for Aung Mang, Principal, who has been unwell lately with further diabetic issues. The food that he ate during Christmas and New Year made him quite unwell and his blood sugar went up like a "rocket." (Try not to think of an Australian Christmas diet, as that is not possible in Myanmar – rather he would have eaten at numerous different homes and churches) He now eats only food that has been prepared by his wife and his blood sugar count goes down day by day. Although his blood is returning to normal he still feels dizzy and weak.
Please pray that he will return to good health soon.
Tyrannus Bible College, Indonesia
Please pray for the students who are doing their Masters. They have been on an intensive lecture program from the beginning of this month and will continue in this until the end of January. Please pray that they will not be overwhelmed by the intensity of this program.
Like all normal human beings, I find personal evangelism pretty difficult. I've read 9 or 10 books on the subject and heard countless sermons on it too. Most of them have not been all that helpful. Some have been useless. One huge problem is that they often get platform evangelists to write books on personal evangelism. But often these guys have next to zero experience of rubbing shoulders with the world day to day, forming relationships in that context.
You get a vibe in such books when the author is talking more theory than experience. Our modern world is wired to sniff out the inauthentic. If someone is going to tell me about playing bass guitar, they need to have spent hundreds of hours playing the thing. If someone is going to tell me about one to one evangelism, then they need to have spent hundreds of hours forming relationships and sharing the gospel in that context (not from the stage!)
So I was very impressed with these two talks by Randy Newman, author of "Questioning Evangelism" and "Corner Conversations". Within about 10 minutes I could tell that this guy had actually spent many hours talking to unbelievers one on one, witnessing for God, answering their questions, sharing the gospel. His answers and approaches also seem very savvy, they click with me. His response to the old chestnut, "How can a loving God send people to Hell?" is "Do you believe in Hell?" "You don't - then why are you asking the question." "You do - do you think anyone goes there?" Much, much better approach than abstract talk about the justice of God etc.
I'm very keen to check out both of Randy's books now. I'll let you know if they live up to my expectations.
There's a bit of a fuss in Oz at the moment as an Islamic Imam has been caught teaching that it's ok to beat your wife. There has been outrage, but he is simply stating what is plainly taught in Qur'an 4:34.
There's some truth in this stuff. It's wrapped in new age fuzz, but there's a core that is compatable with Christianity. Regret and worry are two useless emotions. God has freed us from regret about the past, and commanded us not worry about the future. The Christian life is the life you live today, with one eye on eternity. Need to think through all this a bit more...
This is an important subject, a glorious subject even. I'm genuinely grateful to MJ for bringing it up. Here are a list of resources that people might find helpful as they work through some of these ideas.
Not surprised. Turned out to be an ad campaign by Witchery for their new men's range. I don't know why some people were upset by the "sham" though, I can't see it did anyone any harm...
Hundreds of sermons from one of America's most highly regarded Reformed preachers
"The video games industry is now double the size of the box office and more than 40 per cent larger than the movie disc industry in Australia, thanks to explosive growth in social games that allow the whole family to play." (more here) My youngest son wiped the court with me on Wii Tennis last night...
Be here at 2.00am Sydney time for live blogging coverage of Barack Obama's inauguration, commencing with the ceremonial healing of blind crippled lepers and ending with Obama's transformation into a single beam of pure light. Let the miracles begin!
MJ questions whether imputation should be used as a touchstone for orthodoxy. A legit question and I can't argue with the points he and Bird make. My problem is that, in my experience, those who start by denying imputation usually end up with a doctrine of the atonement which is far removed from what we would consider orthodox. That's a slippery slope argument, I know...but I can't escape my unease on this point...
Update: Just to clarify, I realise that MJ and Bird are both affirming imputation...
"I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be. But still, I am not what I used to be. And by the grace of God, I am what I am."
Will be very interested to see what he has to say about the Gaza situation. If Israel restrict themselves to the occasional air strike, I'm guessing he won't have much to say at all...
I'm just about finished this. It is more balanced than I expected. He quite readily concedes the evils done in the name of communism, progressive socialism's naivete regarding the nature of man, and the many compromises the ALP has made during it's often baffling history. At the same time he is fairly respectful of religion, though he has no time at all for what he calls "Australian Puritanism". Fascinating character, a fascinating history.
Went back to work today. In-tray was very full, but I made good progress. I still have the boys for another week - they stay home during the day while I'm out. They've done this a few times now, they are old enough to look after themselves. Nice to come home to them too.
Next Monday evening I take M & H home, and J will be staying with me, and heading off to his new school the next day. Lots of changes... 2009 is looking like an interesting, and exciting, year for me...
LukeS has created an unofficial Sydney Anglicans community site. Looks very nice, check it out...
Sandy asks the panel to name their standout books and downloads from 2008. I really enjoy lists like this. I'm a bit disappointed that the guys are not across the whole sermon download scene a bit more (the sola-panel girls are more with it, generally they come across as more new media savy than their male panelists). Sermon downloading is an important part of modern western spirituality, especially for the under-30s, you can't escape that...
JohnH compiles some posts he has done on the subject. His views look pretty similar to my own. Check 'em out...
Well, J has moved into my place and seems to be settling in well. He has his computer set up in the corner. He and a group of his mates get together and play Counter-Strike over the net. They all have headsets, so they sit and chat together as they run around shooting terrorists (or counter-terrorists). I know this tech is nothing new, but it's still pretty fascinating to me, watching how it has transformed the way this generation relates.
My sydang readers would have picked up a copy of this yesterday. Looks sensational, doesn't it? Well done to Jeremy and the team, great effort!
This week they are discussing Augustine's City of God, and what it can teach us about relating to culture
There are quite a lot of housing commission apartments in the inner west. Now, this is an expensive area. For the cost of an apartment in Glebe, you could probably buy 2 similar size apartments in the outer west. Wouldn't it make sense to sell all of the apartments in close to the city, and buy twice as many in cheaper areas?
Is this real? I'm suspecting a young wanna-be model trying to give her career a boost...
I picked up the Lightkeepers "10 Boys" series today from Koorong, for M & H to read. I've started reading them myself, I think they are great! I'm reading the one about some of the Reformers at the moment, and the author is not shy about blasting medieval catholic superstition...
Just how different are they? I mean, considering Obama is the American political messiah, and Bush the anti-christ, you would expect in the area of foreign policy they would be chalk and cheese, wouldn't you?
From the Facebook group -
This day is the day for all men to stand up and say, "Yes, I am a Man." And "Yes, I will step up and do manly things and whatever I want to do on this glorious day!"
Come, make history! Be a part of National Man day. Take the world by the throat and tell them it's ok to watch Rocky movies all day. Tell them it's fine if you sit in your favorite chair and scratch yourself. Tell them it's normal to go shoot stuff or blow something up. Why? Because YOU ARE A MAN!!!
You aren't some nancy that likes to frolic in the fields, unless it's a field of mines and you have an AK47 and a hand full of grenades... Then you really are a man!
Yes on this day, men across the nation will be saying, "Screw you salad bar, with your salad and light dressings!" Men will step up and say, "I'll take that 20 oz steak, and yes, I'll eat it all. Because I'm a man!"
I'm not asking you to throw some sissy party, or to go buy a new power tie because you're a man. All I'm asking you to do is step up live this day like a man would. Blow something up, shoot some animal, punch your buddy in the face for no reason, be a good father, play football and literally knock someone's head off... Do something manly. Be a man like God intended you to be...
Take this day and celebrate your manhood!
John Dickson reviews it. It's an excellent resource, well done to all involved. We are looking forward to handing one out to every household in our suburb...
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You may have heard that an Australian atheist group has been prevented from advertising on the sides of buses. They are appealing the decision. We should hope that their campaign goes ahead, for the following reasons -
1. It's a dangerous precedent to have religious advertising (of any stripe) banned
2. Anything that gets God on the agenda is good for us
3. Their campaign is really, really lame. It makes theism look strong by default
Heading up to Mum & Dad's farm tomorrow for 4 days with the boys. Pray for a safe trip and a good time. Justyn has moved in with me now - interesting times ahead...
Demand for Moore College's excellent Preliminary Theological Certificate is exploding overseas. The influence of this could be enormous, it may well end up being the single biggest contribution Sydney Anglicanism makes to global mission...
I've been enjoying Arch Hart's Keys to Happiness talks. Real soul-level happiness and contentment are such a great witness to the world. True Christianity takes "Delight yourself in the Lord" just as seriously as "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
This will be terrific. It is easy walking distance from my house too. We're going to see "The Comedy of Errors" on Friday night (assuming the rain holds off).
As you may know, I've been listening to Arch Hart recently. I've been particularly interested in his comments on Positive Psychology. This is a fairly new strand of psychology that "studies the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive". The positive psychologists have identified a number of Character Strengths and Virtues (CSVs), characteristics that increase happiness and well being. I've been interested to see that many of these overlap with traditional Christian virtues. The CSVs, organised by groups, are as follows -
Ok, I know I was raving about Carson's "For the Love of God" six months ago, but I've shelved it now. Flicking between 2 books, and back and forward looking for passages was all a bit of a hassle. Yeah, I know it probably added all of 30 seconds to the whole process, but it felt fiddly. So anyway, I bought the NIV Daily Reading Bible, which includes the text verbatim under for each date. You just turn to the day and start reading. Easy...
The Gaza Strip War has entered it's 10th day, with Israeli forces moving into Gaza city. Israel has suffered many thousands of rocket attacks since 2001 from Hamas terrorists hiding in Gaza. Is this response an overreaction? What alternatives did Israel have to defends it's citizens? (real question)
Remember, the Hamas charter calls for the elimination of Israel and it's replacement with an Islamic state...
Changes are planned for the inner west of Sydney. I support these proposals, people need places to live...
St Andrews Cathedral have put a whole heap of sermons online, including a heap by Phillip Jensen. My American readers especially should check his stuff out. Many in the US consider John Macarthur to be the finest expositional preacher going around, but I think Phillip is an even better expositor...
Robert Skidelsky comments on the failure of the market. In a sense the market hasn't failed. It is self-correcting at the moment, exactly as it should. The problem is that the correction is so massive that it is causing enormous pain.
One of the things that won Kevin Rudd the 07 election was the much hated WorkChoices legislation. I always supported the legislation, just about everyone I knew disagreed. Most of our clergy seemed to buy the union line that the legislation was somehow an attack on families.
Well, I feel a small amount of vindication from an unlikely source. Left wing commentator Adele Horin writes about the pain of the coming recession. She rightly points out the greatest sacrifices are made by a very small number, the unemployed, and that this is unfair "It's bizarre, when you think of it, that in a recession a few are singled out to carry the entire load of suffering while others prosper."
She suggests that instead of a few people bearing the burden of the pain, perhaps it could be shared by "Putting all staff on, say, a four-day week or implementing across-the-board pay cuts..."
Her suggestions are good ones that would spread the economic pain across the whole workforce, rather than just on a few. But they are very hard to implement because we have quite a highly regulated industrial relations system that prevents employers from changing conditions like hours worked or rate of pay in a way that would disadvantage the workers.
WorkChoices was all about deregulating the workplace. By putting individuals on negotiated contracts, it allowed businesses to change workforce conditions as the economic environment changes. During difficult times, this might mean a reduction in conditions. During positive economic times, conditions are improved, pushed higher by market forces.
Now, what happens during tough economic times if a business can't reduce conditions that it can't afford? That's right - it's forced to sack staff. Generally business doesn't want to sack good staff that they have invested time and money in, but if the money ain't in the bank for wages, there is no other option. As Horin points out, this means that a small number of people (the unemployed), are forced to bear the burden of the recession. This is a direct result of labour market regulation. If WorkChoices had been implemented and accepted, unemployment would not rise as high as it is going to.
There is not much that can be done about it now, but it's worth thinking about the next time the unions launch a campaign against those nasty conservatives and their economics...
The Dean has a fan page on Facebook. From the blurb -
We have had several questions about why Phillip has a fan page in facebook land. He doesn't like the idea of being 'friends' with people he doesn't know. And he's not enamored with the idea of having 'fans' either, but can see the advantages of being able to communicate with lots of people. This page was published with Phillip's permission and is administered by members of the St Andrew's Cathedral congregations and staff.
He's also been putting a lot of video up lately on the Sydney Anglican site, and more sermons have gone online recently too. I'm glad to see him make use of the new media. Many of the old ways of getting a message out just aren't as effective anymore. For younger generations, if you are not visible on the net then you are not visible period. Debating whether Facebook is a good idea is a bit like debating whether the telephone is a good idea - it's simply an inescapable fact of modern life. Same thing with podcast sermons and blogs.
Gosh, I feel silly sitting here arguing that the internet is really important... ;-)
This is the latest Woody Allan film, and it's been getting great reviews. I saw it last night at Bondi Junction. The morality of the film is pretty deplorable at points, but the characters are all involving and the film whips along at a brisk pace. I enjoyed it.
Piper assembles a fantastic list, based on the prayers found in the NT...
A piece in the SMH. Interesting that it's now quite acceptable to seek out spiritual and moral comment from our Christian leaders. I'm glad our AB has this high media profile. At the same time, there's a danger he will be reduced to the role of moraliser and community conscience. On the other hand, perhaps people will be compelled by his gracious words to look deeper...
Here is Mike Baird's latest blog. He pays a big compliment to someone from the other side, which is always very classy. Now, I'm a big believer in Luther's maxim that "It's better to be ruled by a wise Turk than a foolish Christian." But when there is a Christian MP who also seems to have some talent for the job - well, I think he deserves our prayers at the very least.
The Lord willing, 2009 looks like it will be a very good year for me...hope the same is true for you.
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