Another Big Adventure

This time next week I will be on my way to South Africa.  Another Big African Adventure which I am really looking forward to.  I am spending July and August there and so I thought I would pull out the blog once more to keep everyone updated with what I'm up to.

The opportunity came through the Methodist World Development and Relief Committee, of which I am a member, and which works very closely with Christian Aid.  I was offered the chance to go along as a representative of WDRC along with a couple of other denominational church leaders.  We will have the chance to visit some of the projects which Christian Aid support in South Africa, aome of which WDRF support.  This trip lasts for 10 days, so I figured if I'm going as far as South Africa I might as well make it worth while.  So i took the opportunity to make it a placement for my ministerial formation, so along with my tutor and the WDRC officer I put together a placement, which involves, helping at a youth residential run by the Vuleka Trust.  I will then spend some time at Phakamisa a ministry of the Pinetown Methodist Church.  Some details are still to be put in place which can be a little frustrating and stressful but TIA (that is Africa) something which I am going to have to get used to once more!!

So I am looking forward to this next adventure to another beautiful African country, but most of all I am excited to see what surprises God has up His sleeve this time, and what work he is doing in the people I will be visiting with.  So if you want to keep up to date with what I'm doing keep and eye out here and on Facebook and I will try to keep them updated with my big adventure.

Punch in the stomach

'Every time I sin, I am spitting in God's face, insulting Him by my insistence on living apart from Him' Glenn Packiam

Wow...they are strong words. The kind of words that hit you like a punch in the stomach

...and sometimes we need that punch!

Come, let us join our friends above

I was pointed towards the following hymn by Charles Wesley as it was thought it may be helpful in my dissertation.  And it was extremely helpful in a discussion around Ancestor Worship in West African traditional religion.  But I love finding a new (old) hymn and the words just jump out at you and really speak to you...

1.
Come, let us join our friends above
who have obtained the prize,
and on the eagle wings of love
to joys celestial rise.
Let saints on earth unite to sing
with those to glory gone,
for all the servants of our King
in earth and heaven are one. 
2.
One family we dwell in him,
one church above, beneath,
though now divided by the stream,
the narrow stream of death;
one army of the living God,
to his command we bow;
part of his host have crossed the flood,
and part are crossing now. 
3.
Ten thousand to their endless home
this solemn moment fly,
and we are to the margin come,
and we expect to die.
E'en now by faith we join our hands
with those that went before,
and greet the blood-besprinkled bands
on the eternal shore. 

4.
Our spirits too shall quickly join,
like theirs with glory crowned,
and shout to see our Captain's sign,
to hear this trumpet sound.
O that we now might grasp our Guide!
O that the word were given!
Come, Lord of Hosts, the waves divide,
and land us all in heaven.

I just love this.  How easily we forget those saints who have gone before us, the cloud of witnesses from throughout time who cheer us on in the race...those who are now in glory from time immemorial, many known to us and many more not known to us.  But every time we worship we join with their unending song of praise in heaven.  May we never forget that we are only a small part of a much much bigger Communion of Saints who paved the way for us.  And may we not forget those who will come behind us...how are we doing in paving the way for them?

sacrifice and relationship

I've been doing some Old Testament research for my dissertation and came across this passage about sacrifice in Ancient Israel and its importance in relationship.  Not something i've ever really thought about before...

Sacrifice – in many ways sacrifice is simply assumed by the biblical texts as the way of being in relationship with God. That is the relationship between God and the people of God is the basis for making sense of sacrifice, rather than the reverse.


Sacrifice does not create the relationship; rather sacrifice maintains or strengthens the already existing relationship. When humans perceive the relationship as torn or broken, sacrifice serves as evidence of the human desire to repair and restore it.

There is rarely the sense of appeasement of an angry deity through sacrifice in the biblical texts; rather, sacrifice serves as concrete evidence of human acknowledgement of the ruptured relationship and of the desire for restoration. In theological-speak, restoration of the divine-human relationship is atonement, to highlight the purpose of bringing the relationship back into equilibrium.

(C) Marty E. Stevens Theological Themes of the Old Testament

I personally think it's so easy to take for granted our relationship with God, is it too simplified to say he's not angry, but just disappointed with us, I think there must be times he gets angry when he looks down on his perfect creation and see's what humanity is doing to it.  Yet he does want us to come back into relationship with him when we mess it up.  But we dont have to go to the temple to perform a sacrificial rite.  The Ultimate sacrifice has been made on our behalf through Christ our atoner, we just have to reacknowledge that and humbly come before God asking his forgiveness to repair and restore and ruptured relationships with him.

What a merciful and gracious God we have.

What do you hear?

I’m trying to get back out walking again as I’ve gotten out of the habit. So this morning I headed out to my usual place, Hillsborough Lake, which is just beautiful. As I came back around the lake I took a seat for a short time just to soak in the beauty of all that was around me and what struck me was the mixture of manmade and natural noises.

By the side of the lake there was a family of geese with their brand new goslings soaking up the sun, splashing in the water, the chatter and quacks of a couple of ducks nearby, the tweeting and chirping of birds in the trees, an aeroplane passing overhead, a fly buzzing past, the wind in the trees, a truck driving past, a dog barking in the background, the clink of glass as someone recycled old bottles, the honking of geese across the lake, the noisy engine of a truck passing by, the flapping of a swans wings and the splash of water as it runs across the top of the lake, chatter and conversation as other walkers come past, joyful shouting and laughter as a child sees the ducks and throws bread, another truck.


So many different noises breaking through the silence but each one breathing life into a place of beauty that was created so wonderfully by the Master Craftsman, a place of silence but yet a place of a wonderful sound track of God’s creation.

Lent 2012

This year over lent I'm following the BRF devotional lent book once more and this year it has been written by Andrew Watson and follows the Israelites journey through the wilderness.  There are many wonderful insights in it and I would like to share one from todays reading which has been thinking about the name of God...I AM WHO I AM...something which I find particularly powerful.

That story of Yahweh's faithfulness and Israel's failings is our story, too, as we humbly take our place in God's great history of salvation.  Many further chapters of that history have been lived and published:  the stories of Joshua and Samuel, of David and the Prophets, of Jesus' incarnation, life, death and resurrection, of the Spirit who prompts us to cry out 'Abba, Father', and of the Church that bears his name, each chapter better fleshing out the person of the great I AM in the face of human courage or human fallibility.  Yet there is always more to come...
(pg69, Andrew Watson)

What is there still to come in each of our stories...that's the exciting bit, we don't know, but we can be sure that God does and will always remain faithful, guiding us, leading us along our journey.  No doubt there will be surprises along the way andthe destination may not be what we expected but it'll be a fun, interesting and exciting journey none the less.

Working out Salvation

So I'm working on an assignment that feels never ending at the minute but I came across this wee quote...

Those who know that God will one day wipe away all tears will not accept with resignation the tears of those who suffer and are oppressed now.  Anyone who knows that one day there will be no more disease can and must actively anticipate the conquest of disease in individuals and society now.  And anyone who believes that the enemy of God and humans will be vanquished will already oppose him now in his machinations in family and society.  For all of this has to do with salvation.


David Bosch, Transforming Mission