Starbucks Red Cups

Here’s the thing, I'm getting sick and tired of reading so many posts about the Starbucks red cups. Let’s be realistic, the company have not waged a war on Christmas. They have not taken Christ out of Christmas. They have done what many company does at this time of year, they have changed their marketing. I have been to McDonald’s this afternoon and I got a coffee, on my cup was a reindeer, this cup has not caused me any offence whatsoever, do you know why? Because the real meaning of Christmas is so much more than consumerism, or having a Santa or whatever cute picture on your coffee cup. Christmas is about Christ – Emmanuel, God with us.

Christmas is about the retelling of the story of how God, the creator of the universe has made the massive step into our world, became a baby and it is the looking forward to his return.

There are so many more things for us to be getting our panties in a twist over. Let me take you on a journey, there are homeless people living in our communities, there are families who struggle to feed their loved ones, there are elderly people who are isolated and lonely this winter. There are people who are struggling to heat their homes.

Get a grip people, there is so much more to Christmas than this. This is what the bible says that God asks of us:

 “No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,    and this is what he requires of you:to do what is right, to love mercy,    and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 5:9)

And again, what else does God ask of us as Christians?

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves;    ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless,    and see that they get justice. (Proverbs 31:8-9)

Basically, what I am saying to believers who are getting upset is to gurn up suck it up princess and every other expression that I can think of, there are bigger things than a red cup to be getting cross with.

Straya Mate

I've been living in Tamworth, NSW for a while now. It's pretty amazing to see how God has brought me here to a place where I can serve Him and His people in such a different way. I'm studying PTC at the minute and going through The Introduction To The Bible as my first module. It's pretty amazing to study. I keep getting excited each time I come to read the textbook and the passages that it's asking to be read. This week, we where looking at God's creation in Gen 1-11, then looking at the new creation in Revelation 21&22. Stopping a while in Isaiah 65 to see the prophecy of the new heaven being declared so early on. It really excited me, but created so much more of an urgency to share the gospel with people. I mean, Jesus WILL return. He will bring with Him a new order and a hope of no more pain. But because My Lord is coming, it makes it so much more important to reach the people who don't yet know Him!

I'm loving working in the school environment, it is such a blessing and comes with real joy-filled moments. Like some of the year 10 girls inviting me to come and watch them do their commerce presentations - I felt like such a proud mummy figure to see all the hard work that they had put in! And they were delighted that I had come to watch them! (I'm finding it's the little things that we can do for the girls that creates opportunities for speaking truth into their lives.)

I've had the opportunity to share my testimony twice formally while here and then I got to share with the girls when they informed me that I looked like I once was a rebel... That made for an interesting conversation, but I really hope and pray that they may continue to ask questions about who God is and what he can do for them in their lives.

The church, a body of hurting people worshiping a God of all comfort..

It's been a long week. I'm tired, I've been working night shift for most of it and by now, it's Sunday evening and the last thing I wanted to do was go to church. I would have far rather spent the evening in bed with a movie avoiding social contact. However, my mother had been to church this morning and came home to inform me that our minister had been asking how I have been keeping, that he would really like to see me at the service.

Cafe Church begins at 6:30pm and by 6:15pm, I was still in bed convinced that I would not be leaving the house.

It's always when I least want to go to church, I find that God speaks the loudest. I'm not sure whether it is to do with my spirit feeling more tender or whether God is screaming right at me. Whatever it was, I was glad that I went.

We have just began a new series in James this evening. The verses that our minister stopped on where the following [emphases mine]:

12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 

As I said to begin with, I'm tired. I went to church because my mother wanted me to.

I arrived, took my usual seat, beside a few of the older ladies from our congregation, (I find when I don't want to be there, if I sit with them, I'll learn something no matter what...)

Looking around the hall, tonight instead of seeing a group of people who I usually am convinced have got it all together, I seen something far more beautiful. I seen a body of hurting people coming together to worship our God, the God of all comfort. The God who has experienced trials, pain and every human emotion possible.

We are not people who have got life sorted out. I'm glad that we're not.

But more so, I'm glad that at the end of all our pain, we will receive a crown of life.

When God speaks, it feels like he is screaming at me.

I'm glad of this also.

Oz, the update.

The above photo is a what arrived in the post this morning from Australia. The journey is getting closer.

Please pray for the visa process which can now officially begin.

Please pray that I will be able to glorify God during the process.

Journey to Oz...

For some who know me, you will know that God has been doing some strange and wonderful things in my life over the last few years. Leading up to this point in time.

I graduated from Uni last October with a degree in Youth and Children's Studies with Theology, so that means I've been qualified for 1 year now.

I've been praying for what the next stage of my journey will be, and now God seems to be taking me on a journey to Australia.
I have been offered a placement in a school called Calrossy Anglican School in Tamworth, New South Wales. God willing, I will be starting my appointment on 20th January 2014.

The next stage of this adventure means a visa process. Over the next few months on the lead up to my move, I will be posting updates regarding my visa and other things with the hope that those who pray, may be lead to pray for this journey. That God's will be done in all of the admin and financial aspects.

The bloody mess of the cross...

As I sat one day wondering everything away

I sat and watched the wonder of the cross.

I seen the cross, a bloody mess.

When I look to the cross, I see it empty,

But when I seen the cross,

today...

it was

different.

I look to the cross as an empty place,

But today what I seen

In amongst the bloody and tears

Was something strange.

Today the cross had many bags

Hanging off the wood

Open boxes sitting at the foot of the cross

I asked the Lord

What does this mean?

Lord, what do you want me to do?

Gently, he took me by the hand

Lord, where are we going?

His reply was nothing short of

beauty.

The day I died for you,

I took your all the baggage and

the boxes

filled with hurt.

I opened them up,

took out the pain.

But, Lord, did you leave the boxes empty I cried!

No, no my child.

I filled them with peace.

The bloody mess that I became?

It was so that you don't need to any more.

I sat one day wondering everything away

Gazing at the wonder of the cross.

That bloody mess, no longer empty.

That day I set down one more box.

Left it at the foot of the cross.

Ethical Coffee, Ethical Church?

In this I wish to address some heart issues, some deep ponderings of a human soul. I may offend, I may cause debates and there is even the possibility that some may consider me to be less of a person for addressing these issues. However, I feel that it is best to stand firm on what I believe and to allow space for healthy discussion surrounding the topic of human sexuality and around what some will consider the "gender issue"... 

I do not claim to know everything, I do not claim to be totally right in what I may say, as I know making such claims as these in the post-modern world is a very dangerous thing indeed. 

I begin this blog with a pondering heart, do we choose our coffee house because of the "brand" name, such as Starbucks or Clements because these are cool places for hanging out, or is there a deeper reason to choose a coffee shop? Today, I sit in one coffee house, but have also been to two very contrasting places for coffee and it's only just coming up to 13:30 as I write this. At the beginning of this week, I was asked where I would most likely go for my caffeine fix. It genuinely took me a moment to think of the heart answer and not just the first thing that came to mind... I concluded that I would go to one particular place rather than the others which were on offer, this came after much deliberation over the various coffee houses that were out forward or suggestion. 

Why the place that I chose? I concluded that they serve the more ethical coffee than other places in the list of options. This being said, I am not writing to big up one particular place over another, but rather, to think deeper about what my coffee can say about church and why I subscribe to a particular denomination over another and how my personal beliefs and ethics have been shaped over the years. 

It took me a brief moment to decide where I would spend my hard earned cash on my daily caffeine fix, however when it comes down to the bigger decisions in life, such as where I attend corporate worship, I feel that this may take more time than that. 

Currently, I attend an Anglican church, in my home town. I have been here since birth, it has been my family church growing up and I have found myself returning to this Christian family after venturing to various different places. "Why?" some may ask, but I feel that throughout the turmoil that the Anglican Commune has experienced in relation to gender issues and questions of human sexuality, one thing has stood firm within my own parish. Their love of God; through Christ Jesus and His finished work on the cross. And how this then impacts upon how they seek to serve their wider community. 

There may be various opinions and debates surrounding gender issues within a church context, but I feel that it is time that I joined in the conversation and truly nailed my colours to the mast if it where. 

From my understanding of scripture, and correct me if I am wrong, those who struggle with same gender attraction (LGBT to the world) are no less a person than any other person in a community. There is in no way that I can sit back and allow for this type of conversation to take place without allowing for other schools of thought to be interjected. I do firmly believe that the PRACTICE of homosexuality within a Christian context is wrong. However, ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3). I do not see in this verse that it says "homosexuals alone have fallen short..."! It breaks my heart to have friends who feel that they can no longer attend corporate worship without the judgement which can be placed upon them for their belief system. 

I believe that we serve a loving God, a God of compassion and a God moreover who actually came down to this dirty earth to get stuck in and be in relationship with His people. I also believe that if Jesus walked this earth today, he would be hanging out in gay bars, in the pubs and clubs that scatter our city. 

How dare I make such a statement I hear you all cry out! Is that not the same cry from the Pharisees and the other chief priests of the time that Jesus walked this earth in the first place? He walks with sinners they whispered, look at him, he hangs out with prostitutes and tax collectors... etc etc etc! 

Heck, I believe that if Jesus was walking about here and now, HE WOULD NOT BE IN OUR CHURCHES! That's not what he's about. He would be getting stuck in and hanging out with those whom society consider to be the worst of the worst - yes, that includes gay people that seem to come under so much condemnation. 

Show me, I ask; where it says that everyone except a gay person can come to Christ. Show me, where does it say that anyone BUT a gay person can serve? 

Better still; show me how a celibate homosexual civil partnership is to be condemned. Should a non-practicing Christian gay couple be denied the same legal protection as a heterosexual couple? 

I finish this blog with a sad and heavy heart, but with hope of a better future for those who struggle with same gender attraction. I also propose the question to anyone who reads this, is your Jesus the Jesus who enters the gay bars, the pubs and clubs of our city, or is the Jesus that you serve bound up within a church building with no escape into the community that He first came to reach, serve and save?