A Sense of Justice

Thus, while I accept that granting leave to appeal could appear unfair, it does not amount to a level of unfairness that is contrary to the interests of justice, ... Granting leave to appeal would not violate the conscience of the community. On the contrary, as I have mentioned, the error in the sentences imposed is of a nature such as to require the Attorney General to appeal to ensure that the administration of justice is fairly and properly carried out. The Court of Appeal

I am frequently filled with a sense of injustice listening to court rulings and sentences. In a recent case I found this statement which was very special. In a plea bargain, in exchange for a guilty plea the Toronto Crown Attorney's office agreed not to appeal, however the Attorney General appealed the sentencing. I was amazed to see a sense of justice, as the conscience of the people, removed from contract law. Of course Christians place justice in a different place.

If spirituality is to be authentic it requires a sense of justice and injustice, just as discernment, as an aspect of spirituality looks at good and evil As I sit on my student council at college we have wrestle with justice and social justice issues. After a year we have replaced virtually all the disposable styrofoam cups and plates and plastic utensils with paper or corn based plastics. Not merely a matter of environmentalism but ecojustice and stewardship. I hope this year to raise questions about justice for international students who seem to fund universities with their escalated fees and get limited specialized assistance to enable them to complete their programs. Spirituality is not merely about practices but values and concerns which are divine.

Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, Who write misfortune, Which they have prescribed To rob the needy of justice, And to take what is right from the poor of My people, That widows may be their prey, And that they may rob the fatherless. What will you do in the day of punishment, And in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory? Isaiah 10:1-3

How Building Learn

Buildings never stop changing. Some do it well and become loved. Some do it badly and get worse over time. The difference is intelligent design and intelligent use. Stewart Brand How Buildings Learn

I've just finished watching a series of documentaries called How Building Learn. It's beautifully crafted series written and presented by Stewart Brand. It challenges notions and ideas that buildings are timeless permanent edifices. For instead the problems are frequently, the architects who see they are building monoliths which are there to resist change and time. Literally they are building works of art, rather than utilitarian structures which can change and adapt. While good buildings learn and adapt and reflect the lessons of people who live in them, really bad buildings can only be replaced.

As I look around building in this city I can see that many of the new structures are open to Stewart's criticisms. They are so radical and difficult to adapt and in fact the Lee Chin Crystal has to be modified from the start because of over heating problems because of the quantity of glass. I suspect eventually it will be demolished rather than loved. The new parts of the British Museum are adaptable spaces which ultimately you will forget how it was before because it is so supportive of its function as a place for people. I have rethought a few ideas and concepts because of seeing the series which is fully available at Google Video.

Francis Duffy asserts "Images are everything. What actually happens inside buildings, what the building was for, becomes forgotten." Buildings are not about looking nice but about living in them. My spaces in my apartment are about being functional except at the moment I am dysfunctional at home. I returned to journalling yesterday after a 6 month hiatus. During my time of reflection about what has been happening inside me and what changes have come about, I did a drawing on a pile of things on one of my desk areas. As I looked over the drawing I realized it reflected many aspects of my life at the moment. There is still disorder and dysfunction. A continuation of the great cleanup is required and not to lose moments. New insights mean that everything should have its place and in designing and sorting and arranging the need for adaptivity is important but not at the cost of descending into disorder.

Within my spiritual practices I need my journal because while adaptable to my moods and transitions and changes in basic practice, it asserts an order to changes or being flexible. When I look at the early days it was very heady and thoughtful meditation and analysis of material I was reading. Then as drawing became more important it became a place to open my psyche to myself. I don't know what it will become but my journal will not stop changing in content and style and it will prevent a descent into chaos.

Presuppostions and Preunderstandings

Every people group of different cultures brings their preunderstanding to the biblical text they are reading. ... [However unlike preunderstanding,] Presupposition is not something we want to renegotiate as we read the text. It is different from preunderstanding that need to be changed. Joey @ Missions and Theology

I find Joey's reflection helpful as I have been thinking about the dangers of syncretism in spiritual practices. Objectivity is impossible rather everything in done in relationship with God even the thinking, however there seems to me that there are non-negotiables which Joey names as presuppositions. (read more of these in relationship to the biblical text here)

My friend Carlin's call towards transcendence still keeps me thinking. It is possible even within contemporary rock/pop based Christian worship but calls for a careful craft. two Sundays ago I tried to contribute that aspect within the worship set with my cello in a brief 2 bar solo. I think I managed it for a moment to point to the beyond, the wholly other, God. After all isn't our presupposition that the goal of worship is the recognition of God as God? The problem is that our preunderstandings get in the way and drawn into the mechanics of performance and confusing our meeting the divine with emotionalism. Intimacy with God is inevitably within the mysterious vastness of God otherwise we merely domesticate God down to our size.

Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge. Psalm 48:1-3

We do not possess the future

The novel ought to be a stout defender of the independence of eschatology in its most robust sense – that is, a defender of the apparently obvious but actually quite vulnerable conviction that the present does not possess the future. Rowan Williams Dostoevsky: Language, Faith, and Fiction

I was reading Ben Myers posting of a quotation from Rowan William's new book. For those less familiar he is the current Archbishop of Canterbury. This quotation really caught me and has started a train of thoughts including that often forgotten passage "continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." (Phil 2:12-13). Relationships are unpredictable and you cannot possess another person nor a relationship. We do not possess the future, nor eternal life as such. These are graced gifts to us and as yet not fully received.

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard as Johannes de Silentio was author of Fear and Trembling and this book has been on my reading list for quite a few years. Kierkegaard was a Christian existentialist reflecting very much about the emptiness in the life of the church around him and struggled with the tensions between faith and reason. In Fear and Trembling he studied the story of Abraham and presented two figures a "Knight of Faith" and a "knight of infinite resignation". The Knight of Faith relinquished everything i.e. was willing to kill Isaac, but also trusted that he would receive him back. This trust was based on the "strength of the absurd". Absurdity is contrary to reason and all faith is viewed as basically absurd. In contrast the knight of infinite resignation gave up everything in return for the infinite. Within this view he hope he may receive redress after this life, and yet continuously dwells with the pain of his loss/sacrifice.

Perhaps you understand my propensity to the Existentialists. Kierkegaard as Silentio seems to admire Abraham's faith, but he is unable to understand it. I live in and understand the tension between the two knights. The present does not posses the future, rather it is held in trust.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor 13:11-13

Dangers of reactionism

This narrow banding [of emergent church] often reduce emerging church to aesthetical styles, and pathological axiomatics, of locations and practices. There can be a regular mantra of ‘we have no programs, we are organic, missional, and are participatory’, whilst doing very little that is missional, and beyond therapy spaces for disillusioned Christians... Jason @ Deep Church

One of the issues I have felt with at least some people claiming to be emergent church is the expressed reactionism against something, someone, some style, or tradition. It seems to be Christians reacting against other Christians rather than getting out there and living a life worthy of the Gospel. In other words, words and no authenticity in living counterculturally, living incarnational lives, bring Christ to the world.

The dangers of the latest technology is it becomes a substitute for proficiency and authenticity. Having doesn't mean you can use it well or profitably. I was reading my weekly subscription LICC - Connecting With Culture - Collectors Cornered and was slightly convicted. Nigel Hopper wrote:-

I for one have to confess that I probably already own more CDs than I’ll ever have time to listen to, and have books on my shelves that I’ll never get around to reading, despite my best intentions. ... Has the acquisition of things, and the status that their ownership brings, become more important to us than any actual pleasure they impart?

We have the stuff but it gives no innocent joy or pleasure. Last week I got an email and followup phone call and popped over to friends. I had a little moment of Christmas. a few pieces of smoked salmon and a slice and a half of rich chocolate cake. Nigel notes "There’s nothing wrong, of course, in indulging our passions and enthusiasms. " The problem comes when we indulge and they lose their "innocence and humility". They become obsessive, guilt ridden and objects of pride.

Its not about change, rebelling against something, changing practices or method. It seems more and more about enjoying being with God in every situation every aspect of life. As I continue to try to clean up and get rid of things, its not about the having as such but the pleasure or joy or simple usage that comes form them. In having the cello its about becoming better so I can enjoy playing more and more. In the words of Nodame Cantabile character Kuroki "if we can perform well, we feel happy. If we can perform even better, won't we perhaps be able to enjoy it better as well? To aim higher is perhaps to enjoy music purely [as music]."

I need to get practicing!

Something fundamentally wrong

It is generally believed that BSE, Mad Cow Disease, came cross species when sheep parts we fed to cattle in high protein feeds.

The current milk scandal continues to spread globally the World Health Organization on Friday warned the world to be alert for dairy products of Chinese origin that could be tainted. Now King Car Food Industrial Company of Taiwan has a product recall for 7 products under the Mr. Brown label. They have discovered their nondairy creamer is contaminated with melamine. Yes their mainland Chinese made milk-substitute product has melamine in it! Of course White Rabbit candy is also under caution but nondairy creamer should be milk free, shouldn't it?

Contamination is problem in spirituality. I tend to see new age as fusion spirituality or shopping basket spiritual practice. In an age of consumerism and fads it is not surprising syncretism creeps in. Caution is necessary as is self-consciousness. The uncritical adoption of spiritual practices from other faiths is not merely expressing a consumerist view point but also a form of colonialism. It does not respect another culture by plundering it for useful things to add to our spiritual practice. Somehow I am uncomfortable with things like the use of Tibetan prayer bowls in Christian spiritual practice. On the other hand, I am aware of the excesses of Western Modernity and rationalism which has turned faith into a cognitive process and the learning of good doctrine. Yet we still need to think things through and I remain quite concerned that many around do not question nor consider carefully what they are doing. frequently people follow trends whether cultural or simply other Christians are doing it.

Sabbath is not only about rest but also holiness and being set apart. It is about being different.

We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. 1 John 5:20-21

Wearing out

The new school year continues to bring more disappointments than successes. But I can't deny the good moments.

The bike has been giving a little troubel of late. For the last week the chain has been creaking and slipping and finally Friday it broke in the middle of College and St George. Fortunately there was no car hurtling towards me and I was a minute away from BikeChain where I was headed to find out what was wrong with it. I fitted a new chain for 8 dollars. But Saturday no-one turned out for the bike ride, but it was raining...

In 4 years I have worn out 3 tyres, 3 sets of brake pads, one saddle, two sets of pedal bearings,and I have broken 2 bells, 5 wheel spokes on two separate occasions and now one chain. The bike has been worn out because it was been used and not because it was kept safe inside. My veritgo is back because it never went away fully rather because I'm tired and a little worn out. I'm a little disappointed with things this school year but I wouldn't be disappointed if I hadn't tried and trusted. I also wouldn't be able to savour the small moments of success or hope.

Needed a new life including a trade

Many hand operations followed and Paul and his team were feeling rather flushed with success, until one patient came back and said that they had given him "bad hands". The problem was, beggars with deformed and useless hands got money. The ones with good looking, working hands did not. ... That patient challenged Paul to look at the whole man ... Leprosy patients needed a new life including a trade, not just new hands. Sharon Blyth speaking about the late Paul Brand

It's astounding but I've found a website and service called Tourist Remover! (here) The concept is that you'll take a picture and another picture and another and people keep getting in the way. This service will enable you to remove them from the picture. You create something quite nice or even beautiful but it is no longer really a accurate record of what happened or what it was like when you were there. I suppose that we have to be grateful is wasn't Tourist Eliminator!

If life were that simple. But memories and their history are important to us they often tell us who we are both in positive and negative ways. Even most psychotherapies do not attempt to wipeout memories but to reinterpret them. To wish them away is craziness because we need the experiences of life to give true wisdom. Unfortunately most wisdom comes from "the school of hard knocks" the bruises and woundings of life not from the good stuff. I written about Paul Brand and his writing on the importance of pain. He was a surgeon working with leprosy patients and I was taken by books I read many years ago about and by him. Fixing up patients came to mean more than simply getting the body to work or fixing hands, it was far more intentional, and it was far more than saving souls.

Fixing up a photo simply creates a fake which looks good but deny the people and relationships however irritating as people get in the way. WE are called to care for the whole person. You know what trade Paul Brand taught his patents, carpentry. There is a sort of irony and glory in the same moment.

Convenient food

Being a "locavore" and eating foods grown near where you live may not help the environment as much as you might think, according a new study. Mason Inman National Geographic News April 2008

I was born before supermarkets, before freezers and definitely before convenience and prepackaged foods. I remember when food was local because the economic and food technological machinery did not exist. The last few weeks have exposed a fatal weakness in all human systems, namely selfishness and greed. Human beings have tunnel vision and are essentially reductionist, seeing only what they want to see. Food production is never merely about carbon footprint nor about saving time or about profits.

The last few weeks the media has been filled with listereosis and the sliced meats and cheese contamination. We've known for a long time that ground meats are more prone to bacterial contamination, but assumed that cooked and cured meats would be safe. But of course pre-slicing before sales removes that protection. Prepackaged and pre sliced foods are quick and convenient. It removes food preparation from those eating to others making profits.

Now milk intentionally contaminated with melamine is in the news. 53,000 babies and young children affected in a country with a one child policy! But this is not the action of one person or one company as so far 22 companies have been identified as following this dangerous practice of doctoring the milk. But the effect is not localized to once country but across Asia and even North America because globalization means foods travel the world.

Most food in North America travels at least 1500 kilometres to you in fact In the USA, in one meal ingredients may come from five different nations, and in Australia, that might be 30,000 km from farm to stomach. We want strawberries or raspberries in winter so they travel across continents. We're encouraged to eat more fish except we're a long way from the ocean and of course no more than 2 portions a week because of mercury.

In all of this, whoever we are we assume that our governments and officials will look after us. But it's interesting that the politicians are campaigning like fury and spend more time working on negative talk rather than the role of politicians. I was asking myself what I should have said the other night when the local candidate appeared on my door step. Here's a few questions that came to mind this afternoon "If you're elected who will command your loyalty, 1) your party, 2) those who voted for you, or 3) the people living in this neighbourhood?" or "Would you still stand for election if there were no pension and the salary was half that currently?" or "Why do you exactly want to be a politician?"

No government is ever elected on the platform that "We will spend extra millions on testing and confirming the safety of water and food." No government would voted themselves a pay decrease because they did not fulfill promises. Somehow, at the moment, being a politician seems to be another way to convenient food?

Good government has checks and balances to ensure safety and wise practices. In a democratic system this is normatively found in losing an election. The problem, I see, is that pensions and benefits cut in too early and there are really few penalties for a politician who fails to be re-elected. Furthermore government is no longer agent of the peoples rather politicians are in the same category as a used car salesman, you wouldn't trust anything they had to say. Negative campaigning is always unhelpful and unsavory.

Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue. An unfriendly man pursues selfish ends; he defies all sound judgment. Proverbs 17:28 , 18:1

Christianity is now almost impossible to explain

Christianity is now almost impossible to explain, not because the concepts aren’t intelligible, but because the living, moving, speaking examples of our faith don’t line up with the message. Our poor posture overshadows the most beautiful story and reality the world has ever known. Hugh Halter and Matt Smay The Tangible Kingdom cited by Mark Priddy

Mark Priddy's article about Caring for Strangers is very close to my heart. He tells the story of a group inviting the staff from a local diner to dinner as an act of hospitality to the alien in the land after having read Deuteronomy. Not a Potluck or a stand-up party but a sit down table cloth and best china dinner not just the select few but 35 of them. Read his article and wonder if it's something you could do? (read it here)

We got involved, well others from our church were involved in pedestrian Sunday, a street festival outside the gym doors. But as yet I'm not sure we understand our world and how we relate to it. H Richard Niebuhr wrote Christ and Culture, a book that has become a classic. It it he posited five different stances which the church has to the world. These are Christ against Culture, Christ of Culture, Christ above Culture, Christ and Culture in Paradox, Christ Transforming Culture. How do they operate?

Well Christ against culture is obviously antagonistic and the view encourages the separation or withdrawal from culture. The Christ of culture is the opposite,one of accommodation and political correctness.Christians are likely confuse the prevailing spirit of the age for the Holy Spirit. Christ above culture suggests obviously a superiority or benevolence as culture cannot be all bad because it is founded on the nature created good by God. Christ and culture in paradox see that both Christ and culture claim our loyalty and there is a lasting the tension between them cannot be reconciled. Christ transforming culture is obviously Neibuhr's preference and also my roots. This is optimistic about the ability of Christians to change and influence culture. This is a position that at least sees life missionally.

I don't think we stand still rather oscillate between various positions and we have a tendency to retreat into one of the first 2 either Christ against or Christ of culture. We certainly have a tendency to congregate with people who are similar or the same instead of combing the laneways and alleys to bring guests into the feast.

Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. Luke 14:23

Prove this is no lie

From around the age of six, I had the habit of sketching from life. I became an artist, and from fifty on began producing works that won some reputation, but nothing I did before the age of seventy was worthy of attention. At seventy-three, I began to grasp the structures of birds and beasts, insects and fish, and of the way plants grow. If I go on trying, I will surely understand them still better by the time I am eighty-six, so that by ninety I will have penetrated to their essential nature. At one hundred, I may well have a positively divine understanding of them, while at one hundred and thirty, forty, or more I will have reached the stage where every dot and every stroke I paint will be alive. May Heaven, that grants long life, give me the chance to prove that this is no lie. Katsushika Hokusai, renown Japanese woodcut artist cited by Danny Gregory

I make no wild claims about having it all together or having solutions. We work those out in fear and trembling. it is a matter of to go on trying and never to give up going on trying. If you believe then we have eternity to work it all out. (No, the picture isn't me. It's taken on the New York subway from Bill's Gallery here) At the moment I'm not good enough nor consistent enough to make it a busker. Who know about the future, but I'm still working on it?

The future and optimism

Many people live with the unconscious or conscious expectation that eventually things will get better; wars, hunger, poverty, oppression, and exploitation will vanish; and all people will live in harmony. Their lives and work are motivated by that expectation. When this does not happen in their lifetimes, they are often disillusioned and experience themselves as failures.
But Jesus doesn't support such an optimistic outlook. He foresees not only the destruction of his beloved city Jerusalem but also a world full of cruelty, violence, and conflict. For Jesus there is no happy ending in this world. The challenge of Jesus is not to solve all the world's problems before the end of time but to remain faithful at any cost. Henri Nouwen Bread for the Journey

Remaining faithful in all things, in all trials and tribulations. There is often flawed thinking that when everything is going right you're following God and living the right life and the opposite that when things are going wrong then you're far from God and in the wrong. But one of the alternative translation of the Lord's prayer takes us to "Do not bring us to time of trial" rather than "Lead us not into temptation." Our thinking tends to lead us into causal thinking. What caused this state? This is part of blame culture and thinking. Rather first and foremost we need relational thinking, to cry to God and express our need of him. The need to remain faithful is more important than to portion blame or cause. Life is not black and white as the author of Ecclesiastes asks why good things happen to bad people and bad to good people and everything is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.