At a time when there is much uncertainty and sadness across our world, what better way to spend a Sunday evening in the lead up to Christmas than for people to get together, and to enjoy singing timeless songs that remind us of a God who brings joy and peace.
You don’t have to be a Christian to come along, or religious in the slightest. Every one is welcome at Mentone Baptist Church on Sunday December 20th at 6pm.
We also have a service on Christmas morning, 9:30-10:15am.
Click on the picture for further details about these events.
If you haven’t already, it is worth reading the ‘Theological Vision for Ministry’ for The Gospel Coalition Australia which was announced on December 4.
It does a great job at reflecting Evangelical theology in an Australian context. It is also a fantastic example of what Gospel ministry can and should look like in Australia.
You may have read these startling words a few days ago:
“profit from making misery out of the lives of others”
“Australians are harming themselves and others”
These statements were among others released last week, raising suspicions as to what pernicious if not terrorist plans are being mounted in Australia.
Why are they calling for people to take advantage of those in desperate circumstances? How are Australians harming others, and who are these others? Syrians? Iraqis?
Far from belonging to a foiled terror plot, all three sentences were in fact spoken by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, as part of a speech he gave last week at St Vincent’s hospital, Sydney. He was announcing the release of a report looking into the terrible trauma that the drug ice is inflicting on our society.
Without context, each of these lines could be interpreted in a range of ways, including a worst case scenario.
You may be one of the million or more people who have now watched on youtube, ‘The Holy Quran Experiment’. Last week, two Dutch filmmakers, Sacha Harland and Alexander Spoor, had the bright idea of taking a Bible and disguising its cover to look like a copy of the Koran. They then walked the streets asking people for their reactions to certain ‘shocking’ verses that were read to them from the “Koran”. The Koran of course was never cited, only Bible passages were read, such as from Leviticus ch.20 and ch.26 and from 1 Timothy ch.2.
People were genuinely convinced that the Bible verses being read to them where sayings from the Koran, and they offered comments such as,
“To me this sounds like they want to oppress you and force you to believe what they believe.”
“If you’ve been raised with this book and these kinds of thoughts, it’s going to influence the way you think.”
At the start of the video, Harland and Spoor offer this explanation for the experiment, “Muslims have been accused of following a faith that has no place in our Western culture. What about Christianity? A religion that has influenced our culture greatly”.
This “comic” Bible-Koran experiment might possibly reveal something about Dutch attitudes toward Islam, but what it really proves is sadly how illiterate people are when it comes to knowing the Bible (and also the Koran).
If the intent was, as the video suggests, to demonstrate how Christianity contains awful ideas and practices, they haven’t done a particularly stellar job. Ripping Bible verses out of their context says no more about Christianity than what you learnt about Malcolm Turnbull when I cut and pasted from his speech on fighting drugs. Phrases and sentences have historic and literary contexts, without which, they lose the meaning given to them, and thus we end up reaching all kinds of strange conclusions that were never intended. That is not to say that the Bible doesn’t describe some pretty shocking events or contain ideas that challenge our modern sensibilities, but reciting words without their context helps no one to understand either the Bible or Islam. If anything, these Dutch comedians haven’t mocked the Bible, they’vemade a bad joke about their own methodology.
I wonder if Australians are as biblically illiterate as the Dutch? I hope not, but I suspect so. Perhaps there is a lesson here though, read the Bible more not less!
This headline has captured attention not only in America, but also the major Australian newspapers, and because the local media are engrossed I am picking up the story. I don’t like the headline, but I understand it, and I have sympathy for those who had the audacity to write it.
Next week it will have been three years since the Sandy Hook massacre, when 20 children and 6 adults were shot dead in an Elementary School. The act left us shocked and horrified, even in Australia, and I remember thinking, surely this will change the minds of Americans about their guns laws. Three years on, and there is a mass shooting almost every day of the year in the United States, with latest being the appalling shooting murders of 14 people in San Bernadino, California. It is little wonder that gaskets are blowing and voices screaming for action. In this way, I understand the front page of the New York Daily News.
No one likes platitudes but we all use them. Perhaps a reason for this dependance on blah phrases is because of the politically correct prison that we have erected around society, both in America and in Australia. We fall back to language that is deemed acceptable and palatable. This also partially explains why the New York Daily News headline is so shocking, because they’re torn up book of etiquette.
And then there is the hypocrisy of tweeting about praying. I don’t have access into the hearts of those men and women whose tweets have been published, but I wouldn’t be surprised should much of it be sanctimonious public talk, although some of it genuine and sincere. Apart from the hypocrisy of “praying” to God when you know that for the other 99% of life, you couldn’t care less about God, there is also a hypocrisy when people who are in position to effect change, won’t. I am no expert in American cultural studies, and so I want to resist throwing around more platitudes about guns and violence. What is obvious, is that the gunmen are to blame. From where I stand, it seems to me that having such easy access to firearms, including assault weapons, borders on insanity. Given that, one can understand the frustration and even anger of many Americans: don’t pray, take action.
But can’t we do both?
There are times when the only thing we can do is pray. I’m not suggesting that this is the case for those in the sights of the Daily News, but for many people it will be. And prayer is not a useless activity, that is, if we are praying to the God who made and continues to oversee this astonishing universe, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. The way prayer works is less to do with convincing God about what we want and need, as it is about having our hearts so that our lives increasingly conform to God’s heart. That means, prayer is more needed than we realise. If we pray, ‘your kingdom come and your will be done’, then surely we will seek more deeply and intently the things that conform to God’s character. That will have enormous implications for how we ‘love our neighbour’. Pray more and more will be done, that is, when our prayers are not simply platitudes or hypocrisy, for which Jesus himself warns about repeatedly in the Sermon on the Mount.
“prayer is not a useless activity”
From our distance here in Australia, the picture we are seeing is one where cultural Christianity is unravelling in the United States, and the public (as in Australia) don’t have the framework for distinguishing between biblical and civic religion. The headline, for example, assumes that God is on the side of particular politicians, or at least that politicians believe that God is on their side!
“God isn’t fixing this”?
There is a problem in the United States but it isn’t God, it’s people and money and politics. If America is anything like Australia, then the issue is our unwillingness to listen to the God of the Bible, and I don’t mean taking out pithy verses and misapplying them to our own ends, but deeply engaging in the teaching and significance of Jesus Christ. What does it mean to ‘love our neighbour’, as Jesus taught? What does it mean to ‘weep with those who are weeping?’ What does it mean to forgive our enemies? What does Jesus mean when he says, ‘blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God’?
By the sounds of it, Oprah Winfrey’s show in Melbourne last night was even more painful and pointless than anticipated. I simultaneously laughed at and felt sorry for Neil McMahon as I read his review on his evening at Rod Laver Arena with Oprah.
Getty Images
In his summary McMahon mentioned some highlights from Oprah’s two hour sermon (and who ever said that preachers in church should preach less!):
“My heart is my brand.”
“Anything is possible if you keep your vibrational energy high.”
“The intention is why you’re sitting here tonight.”
“Many of you here are frustrated and sick and stalled and scared and maybe even just tired … It doesn’t matter because you’re still here. This is your second chance.”
“Take your glory, Melbourne. Take your glory and run!”
I’m not sure if Oprah sounds more like Joel Osteen or the Dalai Lama, but one thing is sure, such empty bravado ain’t going to help anyone.
It ought to stand out to us how outside the Oprah bubble, media are today reporting important and often dreadful stories, including another mass shooting in America, Boko Haram kidnappings, ISIL, Syria, asylum seekers, and violence and tragedy in Melbourne itself.
On stage with lighting, music pumping, a smiling face and winsome voice, Oprah’s pithy and pseudo-spirituality may enthuse her loyal fans, but in the real world such words are empty.
If I want to be entertained I think I’ll go and watch the new installment of Star Wars. The world needs solutions that have weight to them.
Melbourne, please don’t look to Oprah for life advice, just as I hope people aren’t listening to those blood-sucking, money draining, soul-black hole tele-evangelists who are bizarrely still being shown early Sunday morning television.
Instead, I am reminded of another preacher, and his words were not greeted with mass cheering, but they have nonetheless stood the test of time. They are words with weight to them; words that don’t offer glib promises or shallow triumph. They are words which have made the most powerful uncomfortable, and the wisest look foolish. And they are words that have given peace to the most vulnerable, and joy to the hurting.
Oprah’s words feed the ego, which is perhaps one reason for her popularity. Jesus’ words, on the other hand, both cut the ego and restore the soul.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:19-21)
I just finished reading an article in the Washington Post that is all about Melbourne coffee. That’s right, one of America’s most celebrated newspapers has published a piece featuring “Melbourne’s coffee obsession”.
It was kind of nice to see our American allies acknowledging that someone can do something better than they. When visiting Washington DC two years ago, I managed to buy one coffee that was almost drinkable; we had more success in New York where there are a burgeoning number of decent homes of coffee (yes, they are largely run by Aussies). It is no wonder that they flew across the Pacific, bypassing Sydney, in order to find the place to write about coffee!
It is true that Melbournians demonstrate a proclivity toward believing we are the best at everything: we are the sporting capital, fashion capital, cultural capital, university capital, and capital of everything else of Australia, except the nation’s capital (although we did hold that title for a short period!). Humility isn’t one of our esteemed virtues, and truth be told, we have be known to exaggerate some our ‘qualities’, however when it comes to coffee, the Post has measured us with the precision any decent barista will hold in making my order.
My local coffee roaster is amazing. Freshly roasted to order every time – Five Senses
And here are five of my favourites Melbourne Cafes right now:
Market Lane , their milk is truly special & I like the fact that they refuse to serve skim milk
St Ali , because the food and coffee is alway amazing
Brother Budan, because I like drinking coffee where the chairs are hanging from the ceiling
Hendriks, because it’s close to where I live & they serve Five Senses
Leaving aside a certain God-phobic Government and some serious social problems writer, Will Hawkes, was pretty close to mark,
“It’s hard to be unhappy for too long in Melbourne. Life in this blossoming Australian city, it seems to me, can rarely have been so good — especially if you love coffee.”
The Grinch has jumped off the pages of Dr Seuss and has landed in town. In Victoria, the current Government have informed state schools that Christmas celebrations can continue, but references to Jesus Christ are discouraged and may even be outlawed.
Like blowing out candles and eating a birthday without celebrating an actual birthday, it’s ok to celebrate Christmas, so long as we avoid talking about its actual significance.
The Bible is now banned from being mentioned during school time and no more prayers. Even hymns are prohibited, although carols are ok. Can anyone tell me how a school is meant to differentiate between a hymn and a carol? Does that mean Jingle Bells still rocks, but Away in a Manger has been thrown out? Are songs about an obese man obsessed with dressing in strange costumes in, but songs about the birth of Jesus are out? We can mention the reindeer but not the donkey, the elves but not the shepherds?
Perhaps this has less to do with religion and more about discriminating against classical music in favour of crappy pop songs. After all, has there been a genuine classic Christmas song composed in the last 50 years? Any school performing Handel’s Messiah had better watch out.
To be fair, Education Minister, James Merlino, has said, “As with other curriculum decisions, schools will make the decision as to which Christmas carols feature as part of classroom activities.” So maybe, just maybe, there is still so room in our schools to sing ‘Joy to the world’.
I like the Grinch; when he’s mean he is funny, and in the end the Grinch realises the folly of his ways, but real life isn’t always so comical. We can easily close our children’s books but we should not be so quick to overlook our history books.
There is a lesson from history that the Daniel Andrews’ Government are ignoring, and it is a lesson that was taught at the very first Christmas. At the time when Jesus was about to be born, Joseph and Mary were knocked back by the BMA (Bethlehem Motel Association); no one wanted them, and so Jesus was born in a cave where animals sheltered at night. When news of Jesus’ birth reached the Government, they didn’t take it too well. In fact , the man in charge, Herod, sent his cronies across to Bethlehem to stamp out any mention of Jesus.
Well, we know how history ended up, Jesus won, and Herod and the citizens of Bethlehem with their closed door policy have been booed into incongruity ever since.
These new Herodian-like policies in our schools ought to be respected; they are stupid but we must obey them, for the Scriptures tell us to do so (Romans 13). However, I think it is wise for us to revisit history, because by giving it the cold-shoulder we are bound to repeat the same errors that others before us have made.
While Herod hounded and Bethlehem was brusque, at the same time some of the smartest people and the lowest people of that time, did go to Bethlehem seeking Jesus and in finding him worshipped him as king and God. History remembers well the Magi and the Shepherds .
If you’re not a fan of Herod, and you do love Christmas, why not visit one of the many churches that will be celebrating the birth of Jesus and singing all the carols we love? And maybe do it soon, just in case someone has the cracker idea that talking about Jesus in Church is no longer a tolerable thing to do.
There is an invitation to Mentone Baptist’s Christmas services here. Indeed, I would like to extend an invitation to Mr Andrews and Mr Merlino to attend our Carols Service on December 20th, 6pm. You and your families are very welcome to join us.
Two weeks ago Dr Patricia Weerakoon visited Mentone Baptist Church for a parenting seminar. It was a great morning, enjoyed by many parents, and one that stretched and challenged our minds as well as attitudes.
I had thought that Dr Weerakoon was one of Australia’s leading sexology academics, after all, she did teach at Sydney University. I can now see why she is so dangerous and her books demand banning; Patricia Weerakoon is highly intelligent, witty, humble, and kind. Surely these are the last attributes we want to see in a person teaching about sex and parenting!
It’s a shame that the room was filled with doctors, lawyers, university lecturers, teachers, and other moronic people who were unable to discern wisdom and science from archaic religious fantasies!
I highly recommend inviting Patricia to speak at your church, school, or organisation.
The two sessions are now available from the Mentone website or you can listen here:
The Lord’s prayer is more wonderful and more dangerous than you think.
A 60 second advert produced by the Church of England has been banned by some of Britain’s cinema chains.
The advert features various individuals and smalls groups taking turn in reciting lines from the Lord’s prayer, and the advert ends with this call, ‘Prayer is for everyone. #justpray’
The pray itself doesn’t belong to the Church of England, the words originate with Jesus himself, and they form part of his broader teaching on prayer to his disciples, which one can read in Matthew’s Gospel.
Digital Cinema Media (who own many of the cinemas), have explained that they have a policy of not accepting political or religious advertisements, in the case that they might cause offence. Leave aside the fact that many movies are an insult to art and to our intelligence, if Digital Cinema Media were so concerned about offending people should they not show care in their choice of movies being screened? How many films offend peoples religions (including Muslim people)?
Speaking to the Guardian, outspoken atheist, Richard Dawkins said, “My immediate response was to tweet that it was a violation of freedom of speech. But I deleted it when respondents convinced me that it was a matter of commercial judgment on the part of the cinemas, not so much a free speech issue. I still strongly object to suppressing the ads on the grounds that they might ‘offend’ people. If anybody is ‘offended’ by something so trivial as a prayer, they deserve to be offended.”
Watch the advert and decide for yourself, but I find myself leaning toward Dr Dawkins (and he says miracles can’t happen!).
While I believe Digital Cinema Media’s decision is silly, I also think the advert’s producers have made some errors.
For example,
#justpray is misleading because it could be easily misconstrued as, just pray to whoever; the details don’t really matter. I realise that’s not the intent, which of course makes the hashtag all the more unhelpful.
A more significant concern is the invitation to call God, Father. This is an incredibly wonderful idea, and it is unique to Christianity. To know God as Father suggests that he is not an impersonal being, but he is relational and personal. What a remarkable concept Jesus is teaching.
But he is not everyone’s Father, and therefore it is imprudent to call him such. The Bible shows us that we only have the privilege of knowing God as Father through faith in his Son. It is inappropriate for any child to call me dad, only my children can do that. Similarly, only God’s children can truly address him as Father. One of the great truths of Christianity however is that we can come to know him as Father.
‘In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ’ (Ephesians 1:4-5). The Bible teaches us that we can know God as Father, but it is through Jesus. By trusting in his death and resurrection, we are no longer separated from God, but are included into his people and brought into a personal relationship with God.
Finally, when we pray, ‘your kingdom come’, we are asking for God to not only save, but also to judge this sinful world. It is calling for God to rid the world of every evil and injustice, including our own. Should we encourage people to ask God for this, especially if they themselves don’t believe in Jesus Christ?
I would love to hear more people praying the Lord’s prayer, but it is ill-advised to invite people to pray what they do not believe or understand.
My suggestion is, amend the unhelpful hashtag, and perhaps add a warning about praying without understanding.
Having offered the above criticisms, overall, I really liked the advert. The line which particularly struck me this morning was, ‘Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.’ What a powerful testimony this could be in light of the dreadful acts that are being enacted around the world. Jesus is pointing us to God who can forgive sins.
MurrayCampbell.net 