We make our way to Babe Town tomorrow morning.

Robertson is in NSW, just inland from Kiama, a little to the south of Wollongong. It’s the town the movie “Babe” was shot in. Our cousin Ruth is getting married there…

It was such a loaded weekend. It was really good and at the same time, it was distressing.

It was really good because I had dinner with 2 really good mates of mine here in Melbourne, on Saturday and Sunday. It was distressing however, because it is one of those weekends where the family members you have suspected of not getting along were confirmed to be in confrontation with each other.

Unfortunately the Sun night dinner was intertwined with this “family discord”.

The weekend started out reasonably well. Tress, Kiddo and I decided to on Friday to just remain in the city after work/school and have dinner there. After dinner we walked around a bit, and decided to shop for Kiddo’s shoes for the upcoming wedding next weekend.

We spent about an hour walking around, got her shoes and went back home for a DVD. We watched this movie with Daniel Craig as Tuvia Belski. He and his brother Zus (played by Liev Schreiber) lead a Jewish resistance movement against Nazi occupation in Belorussia/Poland. It wasn’t bad, but I had trouble recalling what the movie was called so it isn’t particularly memorable either. We watched “Up” about 1-2 weeks ago and it was such a memorable movie, especially the opening scene with the storks and the clouds.

The next morning Tress and I went for coffee and brekky at Coffee Club as per usual, after dropping off some dry cleaning. We then made our way to church for some spring cleaning and ridding off some hard rubbish. That took us through till almost 4pm. Jason and I caught up and had a bit of a chat about the goings on in church. I’m just sad and a bit lost given my own thoughts and plans recently.

We got home just after 4, I pottered around the garden a little bit, then had a cold one before leaving for dinner at Alex’s. We had a good time, as always, talking and this time we stayed up late – it was almost 12 when we got home.

I had to be up early the next day to cook for a church lunch. At lunch Jason and chatted a little bit more, before the issue he talked about played out on the very same day and later in the evening as well.

Right after lunch kiddo had one of her nose bleed situations so we stayed on a bit till the damn cleared. We got home around 2.30, I did some work and then around 4.30 Alex showed up in his toy – a Mercedes SLK200. I took it for a quick spin, came back and shared a beer with him on our deck. This is life, but the topic of conversation wasn’t great – it was still on the goings on in church.

That night we went to Jason’s house for dinner and chatted again. Again we ended up going home late – close to 11. I caught the first half of United’s game against City, little did I know the drama which was to unfold in the second half.

But here I am, a little broken hearted. With my thoughts on The Elijah Challenge and wondering where this will take the church and its implications on my family and I, the last thing I imagined would be events overtaking me. Greater turmoils unrelated to my opinions were and are boiling. Like Jason said, we probably have to brace ourselves for a “white knuckled ride” for the foreseeable future. I don’t really want to come along for this ride but to walk away now will be unthinkable.

At work today, the team did the usual thing when a member has a birthday.

Early in the arvo, I was on the phone talking shop when the departmental EA carried the cake to the area and asked everyone to crowd around. I ended my phone call, braved the awkwardness, thanked everyone and then recounted to a couple of colleagues the tragic fact that I am turning 44 in 3 days’ time.

The fact that I thoroughly enjoyed the tiramisu cake on offer was testament to my age. 10 years ago I would have baulked at being so decadent. A piece of tiramisu cake is likely to sat my 10k time a good minute back, or I would have felt less than cruising. These days, I hardly crack 8k on the treadmill and I cannot remember the last time I was on the road. My routine now centres mainly on a less destructive machine – that of a cross trainer. The elliptical contraption that makes you bob up and down while you wring your arms may still work up a sweat (my shirt is still more or less soaked after 45 minutes) but it is no where near the sort of work rate one generates from a 45 minute run at 12k/hr pace. I have a younger colleague who does his 10k in under 40 minutes so even though that puts him on a different planet, it cant help but make me feel every minute of my age.

Actually everyone in the department is younger than me which in itself can be pretty depressing.

But you know what? One can only be grateful for what one has. 44 can be a real treat.

When I was about 18 years old, I hurt my back very badly. I was preparing for my university entrance exam, so I was desperate to get well and return to my classes. I asked God – pleaded with Him endlessly – to heal me. I attended healing services. I believed He would heal me. He didn’t. I was in and out of hospital for a number of months. I missed my exams that year. I thought I had wasted a year of my life. God didn’t heal me the way I wished He would.

Looking back, I am grateful that He didn’t heal me in the way I thought I needed to be healed. God is sovereign and He has his timing. God in His wisdom will cause His ways to come into effect. The following year I fell in love with Theresa, my wife to be. Just as important, that period of being unwell gave me an opportunity to read the Bible – cover to cover – for the first time. Also, for the first time, I appreciated the message of the Gospel in its entirety. I saw its context. I began to understand the Bible in its entirety, a little better. Several years later I heard a sermon which threw even greater light on what the Bible was all about. In a word: Jesus. The Bible is about God’s salvation for mankind in Jesus. That in and of itself, is the all powerful gospel.

Genesis 1 and 2 set out the creation of the world. It was a very good world. Some call it paradise. Genesis 3 then sets out the fall of man. It became paradise lost. God then pronounced judgment on man and hinted at salvation. In chapter 3 verse 15 of Genesis God said:

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

Most readers at this juncture would ask: “Well who is this offspring of the woman who will crush the serpent’s head?”

Then in Genesis 4 we see Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel. Abel died and Cain was banished. Neither of them is the offspring of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head. Seth came next. Nope, he wasn’t either. Next big guy was Noah. He built a terrific ark to save the world. Would he be the one to crush the serpent’s head? No, he enjoyed his wine too much. Unfortunately He and I share a common weakness. Next was an explosion of world population. Things got ugly. Babel happened. Paradise seems to be disappearing even faster. We begin to despair. Where is that offspring of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head? Will paradise ever return? Who was the next possible candidate to bring salvation? Abraham? Isaac? Jacob? Joseph? Moses? Joshua? Samuel? Or was it David? Solomon? Elijah? Daniel? Or is it Isaiah? As we read on in the Old Testament, one after another the giants and heroes came and went, but none of them was the offspring of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head.

But we begin to see, in Abraham, what God has in store. We begin to understand His plans to usher the arrival of the offspring of the woman who will crush the serpent’s head. We begin to see the return of paradise. We are told to expect great things – in the form of the revelation of God’s salvation to mankind. We are told that the Messiah will come. He would come to restore paradise.

And then Jesus arrived. It turned out that God’s very own begotten Son was to be the offspring of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head. That like Paul alluded to repeatedly, is at the heart of the mystery of God’s glory. However, contrary to expectation, his arrival was low key. He was born in a manger and grew up to be a carpenter. His hometown was Galilee, the ancient equivalent of central Queensland – ie nowhere. But from the time when He was a child, He was special. He taught teachers. He performed many types of miracles. He healed. He raised the dead. He knew people’s past. He made bread and fish multiply. He commanded the storm to be still. He turned water into wine. And then there was the greatest miracle of all. Having been killed on the cross, He rose from the dead. He returns to sit at the right hand of God and promised us that He is preparing to return and take us into His fold.

Against that context, the Bible made more sense. It was always about Jesus being the answer for our salvation and reconciliation with God. That, said Paul in Romans 1:16, is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. It is in the gospel that a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last[c] just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."

So as we gather this morning to celebrate the communion, let us remember the redemptive act of God in Jesus. The death and resurrection of Jesus alone is our salvation. The death and resurrection of Jesus alone is what we are to share with the world.

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your gift of redemption in and through Jesus, Your only begotten Son. We thank You for Your great act of sacrificial love in sending Him to the cross so that we may not perish for our sin. We thank You for His obedience even unto shameful death. The cross on which your Son bore our shame, you have made Your glory. Help us to look at that Cross on which Your Son died and to that Cross alone for our salvation. We thank You for the empty tomb from which your Son rose. Help us to look at Cross and the resurrection alone for our salvation. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

In Matthew 26, it says in verse 26:

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body."

Let us eat the bread together to remember acknowledge Jesus’ death on the cross and our salvation He brings.

Verse 27 – Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28This is my blood of the[a] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Let us now drink from the cup and accept the shedding of Jesus blood on the cross for our sin. May God bless and keep us all in His loving care.

This morning, we went to the New Hope Baptist Church in Blackburn North. It is the church our friends CM and IT had gone to. We need to consider our next steps and it was just very timely for CM to contact us last Friday even as we were thinking about this. The anything goes approach in ICC has been a bit unsettling for me. Healing with atonement, cleansing after funeral, untrained theology and a reluctance to concretize thoughts and plans probably marks the milepost for me.

Last night we celebrated my mate’s new son Jermel’s full moon. It has beeen 1 month since he was born and we celebrated his first month. It was a very good dinner at a restaurant in Doncaster known (unluckily!) as “Happy and Lucky”.

I wrote this email to a couple of church leaders, in a diminishing attempt to dissuade “The Elijah Challenge” being conducted in our church towards the end of the month.

Brothers

Just so that we are on the same page and there is no confusion about my understanding, the following is how I understand the Elijah Challenge. I want to know if you are both comfortable with the below, ie whether you agree, you think I’m wrong or where my understanding is inaccurate.

Again, I attach a document written by William Lau, downloaded from The Elijah Challenge website. The below points are based on this document.

1. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah challenged the followers to Baal to consider who was God. If Baal was, then worship him but if God was, then they ought to follow/worship God.

2. William Lau takes this account and used it to suggest we ought to be taught how to heal in order to bring the gospel to others.

3. He brings you from the first point to the second point in the following way:

a. Elijah’s ministry (as was John Baptist’s) was to backslidden Christians (God’s people).

b. Many aren’t really disciples of Jesus because we are only hearers, but not doers of the Word

c. To be doers of the Word, we need to be like Jesus and do what he did

d. The reason we are not doing what Jesus did, was that we received a “compromised gospel”

e. So we should receive an uncompromised gospel by doing what Jesus did.

f. This to William is the Elijah Challenge. We must repent for believing in a compromised gospel (ie Baal) and must receive an uncompromised gospel (ie God)

g. The key is to do what Jesus did – ie healing, signs and wonders

h. So we must be taught how to heal.

i. When we do, we can do what Jesus did and therefore return to an uncompromised gospel

j. Then we can effectively preach the gospel

If you think the above accurately reflects what he wrote, do you have a problem with it – ie do you see any flaws in this?

Am I seeing shadows where there aren’t any?

The Elijah Challenge (Clean Copy).doc

It was almost 8pm on a Friday night (28 Aug) and I was on the train home. I was definitely going to be late for a meeting with a few friends. It is a meeting to discuss a less than pleasant matter.

A few days ago a friend sent an email to a few of us from church. A mutual friend had died.

We have gotten to know Steven Leong a lot better the past couple of years ago. This determined, sprightly man was hardly intelligible but was highly intelligent. Apparently he had a PhD in Finance from the LSE (London School of Economics). He was in the rarefied area of high finance. He was a revered player in Malaysia in the mid 80s in the then UMBC. Apparently, a fledgling Dami Zainuddin had him as a go to man for corporate finance deals. No doubt Steven would have amassed a reputation and a fortune in the course of providing Daim with his expert service of corporate banking and finance.

Yet for all his highly respectable financial skills, Steven was in the end, a down to earth man who simply enjoyed the company of friends and good food. He would have enjoyed good wine too, had he not been on long term medication.

While tracking in the tropical jungles of Malaysia, he drank from a stream and was inflicted by a virus which irreversibly affected his nervous system. He almost died and escaped with permanent scars to his motor and speech abilities. For as long as we have known him, he could not for the most part, take half a dozen steps without falling over. We could barely understand what he was saying to us most of the time.

As at 8am 2 September. We said our final goodbyes to Steven yesterday. Tress and I took the day off. After a leisurely morning we left home at around 9am, stopped for a coffee and made our way to church at 9.30am. Steven had just arrived in a hearse when we pulled up at the car park.

Alex, Brian and I busied ourselves with directing traffic and parking and I only got into the church in time before the first eulogy finished. The rest of the service was touching and beautiful.

After the service we drove up to Springvale for the burial, followed by some refreshments in a hotel across the road. It was the first time I had a glass of wine after a funeral. Thanks and au revoir, Steven.

Kooky stuff in Church

At the conclusion of the funeral service in church, as everyone was milling around at the car park getting ready for the drive to Springvale, a group of church leaders got together near the stage, formed a circle, held hands and conducted a cleansing prayer. This is the kookiest (sorry, but it is very weird and disturbing) thing I have seen my church do and quite frankly, I am rather shocked and seriously question if I’m in the right place… an elder has promised to discuss this with me “some day” and I am diarising for that day. After the “Elijah Challenge” sideshow this will surely fuel my questions on a much more serious note.