The Rising Hope

Monday, July 31, 2006

i figured you out

seen you watching
her every time she crosses the floor
so just go and talk to
someone you really adore
i’m getting pretty used to being
the one you always ignore
when somebody wants you
i’ve seen it before

you’re every kind of color
there ain’t nothing that you won’t claim
your ambition and promise
and your addiction to fame
and everyone’s got a dollar
sign after their name
when somebody wants you
you treat ‘em just the same

so go on and pick up
you don’t care what poison you choose
or what person you’ll use
should’ve been me, yeah
shouldn’t it be?

crushing quiet
crawls in through your window
from someone who wants you
but you’ll never know
i’ll pick up around you
clear everything out
leave you where i found you
i figured you out

| posted by Lynton | 9:22 pm

Sunday, July 30, 2006

About your gas guzzler - it's a sin

Hurrah, at least one church is prophesying!

| posted by Lynton | 12:49 pm

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Hosea 4
The Charge Against Israel (and perhaps us)

1 Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites,
because the LORD has a charge to bring
against you who live in the land:
"There is no faithfulness, no love,
no acknowledgment of God in the land.
2 There is only cursing, lying and murder,
stealing and adultery;
they break all bounds,
and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Because of this the land mourns,
and all who live in it waste away;
the beasts of the field and the birds of the air
and the fish of the sea are dying.

I found it interesting that this passage shows the connection between man's rankness and the death of creation.

| posted by Lynton | 9:16 am

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Seven years to save our world - US eco crusader

| posted by Lynton | 2:42 pm

Saturday, July 08, 2006

In musing on the difficulties we often have contextualising scripture into our own context that also does justice to the original context and audience, I thought it would be brilliant if we had a third testament or new new testament. It would be collection of letters, sermons, papers and stories drawn from the far reaches of church history and all church traditions that tell of our Spirit led journey. It would be a huge challenge to put together but it could potentially lead to more unity amongst this diverse body.

| posted by Lynton | 10:59 pm

I feel compelled to research New Zealand's history.

| posted by Lynton | 10:59 pm

Tonight I watched the Proposition. Set back in the colonial days of Australia, the law man Stanley offers pardon for two brothers if one hunts down and kills his older brother. More info can be found here. Be warned it is very brutal. During the film I was exposed to despicable treatment of Aborigines. I wonder if we have advanced and become more ‘civilised’ than those Australian settlers or will our great great grandchildren look back in shame and disgust at the way we treated other peoples or creatures.

| posted by Lynton | 10:45 pm

Whilst strolling up the hill to uni today, I was reflecting on a paper that investigated the relationship between scientific and spiritial beliefs as found in scientists. They concluded that personal experience was a major influence upon both beliefs especially on topics where the scientific and spiritual are in opposition. When I reflect upon my own life I find this to be true. I believe in God, the god who came to earth to redeem the creation, because of various experiences I have had. On the otherhand, a lot of people don't believe in this god also due to their experience of him, especially as he is reflected through us. To call them to follow Jesus, therefore, requires us to provide a true experience of him through the spirit with love.

| posted by Lynton | 1:39 pm

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Forum of the Christian Left (FOCaL) Conference 2006 "Church and Society after Election 2005"

Over the past few of years I have found myself swinging from the far right on the political spectrum to the centre-left to left end of the spectrum. This is evident in my voting: Christian Heritage in 2002 and the Greens in 2005. I was asked why this was so last night by Amanda from the Maxim Institute whilst enjoying some tasty Malay. I guess this process began when I was confronted with preterism. For the first time I was jolted to think and work through different theological positions outside of catechism. That particular issue transformed me from being a happy earth destroyer to a somewhat vocal environmentalist. It also opened up the possibility to engage with many other ideas and thoughts. Hence I have drifted from the Right mooring to the lagoon of Left. Overall, however, I think I am still an inconsistent mixed bag of both right and left ideas.

Anyway here are some thoughts/notes from the lectures and discussions:

The Christian right has clear goals and ideals that it stands for (eg the tightly packed Family Values) .

The Christian left struggles as it doesn't know what it stands for and often is only sure of what it doesn't like. It has lost it's direction.

The Christian left voice is important but must take care in dialogue with the government and the Christian right so as to not end up just throwing grenades at each other from our appropriate trenches.

Scripture provides language that modern Christians are to articulate their experience of the world rather than being a source that we can plunder for support of our ideas.

I Kings 21 "Naboth vs Ahab": Challenge to the Church
> allegiance is primarily to the Kingdom of God, not the secular state.
> Churches agenda should not be subordinate to the secular state
> The Church can and should support the rulers when both regard the welfare of the weakest and vulnerable members of society as their highest priority.
> The prophetic vocation of the church is as the critic and conscience of society, speaking out against social, legal, economic and political injustices
> This passage was used by Maori to express how they felt regarding their land.

Jesus was very political. Reasons why he is often seen as apolitcal:
> Holding to modern ideas about politics (eg separation of church and state) when looking at the text
> The interpretive grid of western individualism (Jesus was a solitary figure engaging individuals)
> Fragmentary strategies (missing the view of the whole story)
> Jesus' prophetic character is squeezed out by emphasis of his divinity
> Reading that Jesus' kingdom is seen as not of this world. Texts often used John 18:35-38 and Mark 12:13-17

In ethics Christians should be:
> Realists
> Inconsistent (contextually based)
> Radical (struggling with the status quo)
> Concerned for everyone

| posted by Lynton | 10:31 pm