Bournagain

Had a lovely welcome at St. Davids in Hamilton this morning. It was great to catch up with everyone after three years since the last visit. It’s an Anglican church that we have always enjoyed visiting (actually it’s the church we got married in). It’s a great example of how some old traditions can be revitalized and given new meaning in the context of a more culturally relevant worship service. As a child I “did my time” in a very high Anglican church of the bells and smells variety. I didn’t exactly enjoy it back then, but in the meeting this morning I found that speaking portions of the liturgy and singing a hymn were powerful reminders of my childhood and how God was at work in my life back then when I didn’t really know him or acknowledge him.

We shared communion together at the “altar rail” – another Anglican tradition which has been kept but reinterpreted. The “altar” has become a simple table, the “officiating vicar” a brother whose service to the body involves leading around the table. The rail no longer separates “priesthood” from “laity”. These traditions have not been part of our children’s experience up till now, and they probably wondered what was going on. But in this country the custom of churchgoing, although in decline, still lingers on in the collective conscience. I can really see the value of keeping certain traditions in the church, as long as we don’t confuse them with the gospel. Their familiarity can be a comfort to some, a reminder of a childhood connection with God for others. For still others they may be incomprehensible and should be dropped in favour of other means of communicating the message. It’s up to us to reinterpret the symbols and traditions for today, so that they point the way for our generation to the ultimate reality which never changes: Jesus!

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There has been much wringing of hands amongst Western Christians over the “secularisation” of society, but I experienced something today which was another indication that we have been misreading the signs of the times.

In New Zealand April 25^th is ANZAC Day, which commemorates the battle waged by Australian and New Zealand troops at Gallipoli in Turkey during the first world war, and by extension those who died in combat during the various wars of the 20^th century.

You’d think that as the last old returned servicemen passed on, interest in marking ANZAC Day would wane. Well, we were in for a surprise. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever noticed that there are occasions in the Bible where people act in a certain way and God commends it, and yet the same act at a different time by different people is an act of sinful disobedience? A good example can be found in comparing the census of Israel that Moses undertook in Numbers 26 with the census of David in II Samuel 24. When Moses finished the census in obedience to God’s command, God gave to the nation an inheritance of land which he has never revoked. In this way he blessed Moses’ obedience.

Several generations later we see King David undertaking exactly the same project which God had blessed in Moses’ day when he sent his commanders throughout the land to count the fighting men of Israel and Judah. The text does not elaborate on David’s motives for doing this, but we see Joab, his trusted advisor, warning him not to do it. David stubbornly continues with his project, and finishes with a stricken conscience, repenting before God for this foolish sin which resulted in a severe outpouring of God’s judgement in the land.

Is God capricious? Does he have double standards? Does he have favourites? Read the rest of this entry »

Fargo

Don’t know if you ever saw that ghastly film called “Fargo” – well in real life it’s quite a fun place. We discovered this when we spent the day here with our friends and their six children. More photos at Flickr (click on the photo).

It’s already been a week since we left Nantes. We are enjoying every moment of being back in the US , visiting friends from when we lived here to years ago at Bethany Fellowship, Bloomington Minnesota. It was such a formative time in our lives, and it’s been great showing the children all the old haunts. Even after such a long absence, as we reconnect with old friends it’s almost like we never left.

Right now we are enjoying sub-zero temperatures and snow in Valley City, North Dakota. There are a few photos at Flickr – I will try and add to this regularly.