An Unbelievable Public Announcement

Recently in my local shops I heard this announcement over the public address system:

God is ruler of the world. The Nations are instruments in his hands to demonstrate his power and love. He comes to pour out blessing on people and to end the curse of sin that brings so much sorrow into our world. Everyone should make room in his heart for this King. The Saviour reigns! The whole world must know about this and sing with joy! 

The announcement was set to music. It was declared in poetry. People were humming along. Some even knew the words. It was a truly sacred moment as I realised what was happening. Most people missed it. I almost didn't notice myself. We were all preoccupied. None of us had come to the shops that day expecting an announcement about God. But there it was! This is the text of the announcement.  

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the world, the Saviour reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love.

At no other time of the year is the gospel message so clearly spoken out in our culture. This is a season of unique opportunities. Take note. Pray. Speak up. Celebrate. Give thanks. Worship. 

You can read an earlier more authoritative version of the original announcement in Luke 2:1-20. Have you had a moment of worship while shopping at Christmas? Leave a comment.

Slavery Is Wrong!

Slavery is wrong! Today is a good day to think, pray and act on that proposition. 

Seven score and ten years ago Abraham Lincoln brought forth a vision of "a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal". 

The battle for that "new birth of freedom" under God is not yet complete. People are still enslaved by people (estimates range from 21-30 million). And there is as yet government of only SOME people, by SOME people, for SOME people most of the time. While MANY people perish from the earth, victims of human trafficking, forced labour, organ harvesting and sex exploitation.

Gettysburg and Lincoln have passed into history. But this great vision of equality and freedom for all people has yet to be realised globally. 

On this 150th anniversary day of the Gettysburg address think, pray and act on this proposition ... slavery is WRONG!

______________

Potential to-do list items for today:

• visit a coffee shop that does not sell fair trade coffee and ask them to begin doing so. Tell them why you're asking Today.
• find a store that sells fair trade products and tell them that both Abe Lincoln & you say thanks!
• write a letter to Just Jeans and ask them to stop exploiting Bangladeshi workers
• Get the Ethical Shopping Guide and the Ethical Fashion Guide and research your favourite shops. If they score poorly, ask the manager to be proactive.
• thank God that you are free. Cry out to God for those who are not. 
• watch the movie Lincoln.
• listen to the Gettysburg Address.

6 Leadership Insights I Learned From Kevin Rudd

I'm no political analyst. I am a pastor with a love for God, love for others and a passion to serve the world. I think Kevin Rudd shares these values. I don't agree with everything, but I think he did some good during his time in the lime-light. I know it was not easy! 

He visited NewHope in 2011. We were all impressed with his razor sharp intellect, winsome persona and commitment to issues of global justice. Here's a few things I learned from K Rudd (the good and the bad) concerning leadership . 

Say "Sorry!" His Sorry Speech was a brilliant piece of leadership. It did enormous good. We'll remember this for a long time. There is great power in an apology. And you don't have to be the one who did the wrong to help make it right. Pastors should be artists of the "sorry". We could all use the word a bit more often! 

Change your voice slowly. When Kevin "flipped" regarding the definition of marriage he left many of his supporters confused (I was one). I have no idea how long he wrestled in private but it was a break-neck turn in public. We didn't see much anguish of heart in the search for truth and so it looked like political expedience. Pastors should change their minds over the course of a ministry but we should do it with open dialogue and a bit of visible wrestling. We'll still disappoint people but they'll know our hearts. 

Read theology. Kevin is a Dietrich Bonhoeffer scholar. He reads N.T. Wright (he told me so himself). He thinks deeply about the ideas that undergird his policy commitments. This doesn't make a person right all the time, but it does make our leadership powerful. We pastors will lead better when we read, study and think more. 

Control your temper. That swearing thing wasn't very impressive. I'm willing to cut Kevin some slack here. Even greater luminaries lost their temper (e.g. Moses). But it's bad form and bad leadership. I do wonder if it's partly why he did not enter the "promised land".

Hang in there! What a bumpy ride Kevin endured. Twice PM, twice expelled. Loved and unloved. Hailed as great and derided as evil. He quit his seat in Parliament, but I'd be surprised if he's done. He's a stayer and that's impressive. It takes guts to fall down in public and get up ready to lead again. That's what Pastors MUST do. 

Hold your evaluation. Kevin Rudd is stepping down. Most of his story is untold. I for one wish his term in politics could have been more productive. I think he is a good man whose gifts didn't gain the traction they might have. I actually know lots of pastors who are in exactly that situation. God's judgement of these things is different. I choose not to pronounce a final word on his life or mine or yours - not yet. 

I hope Kevin can enjoy time with family, move on to new things and serve Australia in new ways with his considerable leadership ability and wisdom. All the best Kevin!

What's A Christian For Anyway?

What is a Christian for? What earthly purpose do we serve? A few years ago Rick Warren wrote a book reminding us "It's not about you!" More recently Miroslav Volf has demonstrated what it is about. It's about the Common Good, he argues, that's what Christians are for.* 

Volf is an author I love. He is a leading theologian in the world today. He is Croatian, was raised Pentecostal (his father was a minister), educated at home (Zagreb) in an American Seminary (Fuller) and a German University (Tubigen). Today he is a Professor of Theology at Yale University. Midway through his doctoral studies (with Jürgen Moltmann) he was drafted into military service and fought in the Serbo-Croatian war. It turned his faith inside out. He's an amazing academic, refined by fire and filled with the Spirit.

If you don't know theological schools, suffice to say that Volf's education and experience is a garden salad of diversity. He is unique. He writes great books. And he is ideally suited to tell us what a Christian is for. 

If you are a believer as I am, according to Volf, the two of us should be working together to help humanity flourish. Our stance must not be coercive but it must not be evasive either. Christian faith must raise its head in the public dialogue, but how?

"Wisdom", answers Volf. Christians have really useful things to say about life. We DO know something about what works and what is needed. But we need to be humble: quick to forgive, eager to receive as well as offer and full of hope for ourselves and others.

It is true that Christian faith can malfunction. It occasionally fails to live up to its own calling. But the way forward is to acknowledge this, confess our failures and get on with the good work of public engagement to which we are called. Here is some of Volf's insight on wisdom sharing.

1. Share nuggets of wisdom. Ours is a tradition full of rich treasure. We should claim it, explain it and offer it freely. Christians who are switched on and Spirit-infused have good stuff to say. We should say it more often and more loudly. 

2. Model a wisdom lifestyle. We should also be able to demonstrate the power of our treasure over the long haul. The Christian voice in the public square should rest on the empirical data of locally lived wisdom. Churches should be people of joy, welcome and healing. Christian families are brilliantly placed to give evidence of Christ's wisdom.

3. Point to wisdom as a person. The premium gift Christians have to offer is the insight that wisdom is personified in Jesus. Real wisdom is not bookish, mystical or antique. Real wisdom is embodiable! But only at great cost. It happened once. It changed everything.

Western culture needs Christians. The public square needs our voice and the back alley's need our loving intervention. We have "words of life". We need to do them. 

To put it another way, Christians are for the world, just like God is (John 3:16). We should be more like antibodies in the public bloodstream and less like busybodies in the private affairs of people. Christians are for the public good. At least that's what Miroslav and I think. Get his book and enjoy a great read.

Note: Miroslav Volf will be in Sydney 18-20 March 2014 at the Re:Thinking Conference. 

* Rick Warren "A Purpose Driven Life", Zondervan, 2002; Miroslav Volf, "A Public Faith", Brazos Press, 2011 (148 pages). Also worth reading is Volf's award winning book "Exclusion and Embrace", Abingdon Press, 1996 (306 pages).

Educating Nearly-Born People

In Victoria, Australia it is legal (since 2008) to abort a foetus anytime prior to delivery. This can't be right. I don't know where the line is between not-yet-human and nearly-born-person but I believe that Victorian law has drawn a line in the wrong place!

I recently learned about the work of Dr. Diane Colombelli-Négrel of Flinders University.* She and her team have discovered that superb fairy wren chicks begin their education before birth. Her work made me think about parents who play music for their unborn babies. How much can a foetus learn? (Lk 1:41-44)

A few days before the chicks hatch the mother sounds a unique note repeatedly in her song which will serve as a kind of feeding password in infancy. Post-hatching, the chicks incorporate this particular note into their begging song and effectively verify their identity at feeding time. Intruders, like the notorious cuckoos, fail to produce the note-code and are ignored at feeding time.

So, apparently bird-education begins pre-hatching. It makes me wonder what marvels a near-born-human has learned. What pre-delivery-living she or he has already begun to experience. And what favour God has already bestowed (Ps. 139:13-16; Jer. 1:5).

It just can't be right to legalise the termination of healthy nearly-born people. Surely we can find other ways to support women and help families through unwanted pregnancies.

* Australian Geographic #113 (March-April 2013), pg. 115.

Three Things I'd Like to Tell Every Year 12 Student

Year 12 is nearly finished in Australia. Pressure! Cramming. Worrying over an ATAR*. This is the common story in hundreds of families. If I could say three things to every hopeful graduate facing exams here is what I'd say:

First, this is a rung in your ladder not a fork in your road. God will use this experience to elevate you if you let him. It is very unlikely that your second employer will ever ask you about high school (unless you are employed real young and change jobs quickly). Study hard, but check out this surprising list of high school dropouts just to keep perspective. 

Second, school exams are not scoring what matters most. Character. They test for memory skills, aptitude with numbers, knowledge of literature, and so on. What will make or break you in life however, is character (Gal. 5:22-23). If you don't do your best or you cheat, then you have failed regardless of your scores. On the other hand if year 12, with all its pressures, makes you a more Godly person, then you possess a greatness which the ATAR can't measure. 

Third, God wants to help you. Ask him. Invite some friends to pray for you. If you attend NewHope know that we are praying for you this week.

Contrary to popular thought, final exams are not final, they are not comprehensive and you don't need to take them alone. Asking God to go with you is NOT cheating. 

Encourage a student this week. Pray for them and care for them this month. 

If you still have exams ahead of you click here for some practical tips. And, please leave a comment below.

*Australian Tertiary Admission Rank