Noisy Plume

Sometimes when I rise in the morning,
I am so very aware that I'll only be this young today.

Fragile Graces, The Noisy Plume.

One of Fifi's favourite websites.

Stalking my wife

Fifi follows all sorts of interesting blogs. Sometimes she shows them to me, sometimes I go online by myself and stalk her.

If you want to stalk me stalking her, you could do worse than start here.

Fifi and the girls really like this

It's Lille by Lisa Hannigan. Beautiful and evocative.

Bit of a scramble for the volcano

A busy morning. Fifi has gone to church to teach some Japanese women to bake (a lot of Japanese people don't have ovens). I helped teach Scripture to some of my girls at school.

Meanwhile, Matilda decided she wanted to train for the zone cross country, so we went off for a run. Oh, that was before breakfast, but that helps explain why it feels like I've been running all morning.

Meanwhile meanwhile, Ruby was putting the finishing touches on the volcano.

OK, let's be accurate here. She had the idea for the volcano for news, which originally (last Saturday IIRC) involved a cardboard box cut and taped to shape, "2 pakets of tomato saus" (what she wrote on the shopping list), and hands coming in through holes cut in the cardboard box, squeezing the '2 pakets' and vawooshka, Bob's your uncle and there's your volcano.

All credit to her, it would have been a corker of an eruption. "Magma to the left of me! Magma to the right of me!"

However we did workshop the concept just a little bit. I cut the box to shape. Fifi helped her paint and decorate so it looked fairly volcanic, or at least, would look volcanic when I taped it up.

(Child to mother, who is asking child to tidy up bits of paper and cardboard: "But you were the one who made the mess!" And again, to give credit where it is due, this statement was technically accurate)

The active ingredients of the eruption miraculously transmogrified, under our guiding hands, into the good ol' baking powder (sodium bicarbonate, in a plastic party cup, taped to the inside of the mouth of the volcano), plus probably three-quarters of a cup of vinegar, to be poured into the cup during the news presentation in 2F. I was putting the finishing touches to it inbetween teaching Scripture and taking Ruby back to her class with the other kids.

Come to think of it, the volcano may even be happening as I type this. Good luck, Mrs F (her teacher).

Why aren't I there watching? Well I do have work to do today, you know!

Inflatable subway animals!

Hey everybody take a look at this short clip Fifi found for me!

It is tres cool.

Inflatable subway animals!

Click through, you won't be disappointed.

Marriage enrichment weekend

Fifi and I are going away on a marriage enrichment weekend. We're running it!

Our dear friends Keith and Sarah Condie gave us their notes from similar weekends that they've run, together with a lot of reading material.

I'm excited about this; one of the greatest traumas and sadnesses in our society is marriages that don't work. What we are trying to stress on the weekend are two things:

1. God favours marriage
2. Marriages that are also friendships work well.

I am so thankful to God for Fiona's friendship over more than 23 years, and I would like to help other people who are married work on their friendships with their spouses.

Thankfulness

Over breakfast the girls and I were talking about the difference between Christians and non-Christians. I don't know how we got onto that.

Anyway, it seems to me (as I explained to the girls) that the main daily difference between Christians and non-christians is thankfulness, or the lack thereof. Christians give thanks to the Lord Jesus for his goodness. Non-Christians are either not thankful, or they understand that they have been blessed and don't know who to give thanks to. Another word for this is sin, which Christians still suffer from and indulge in most grievously, but they know that they have been forgiven. And they know who to give thanks to, namely the Lord Jesus, who loved us and gave himself for us.

I believe that Paul is making this sort of point in Acts 14, in this ripping yarn (Luke is good at writing ripping yarns, isn't he!):

8 Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, [2] 10 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking. 11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. 14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, 15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. 16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” 18 Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.

It occurs to me that Roman Catholics are not able to be thankful, because they fear God as judge and can never be certain that they truly are forgiven. Hence their prayers are full of pleading and anxiety, and sometimes they cannot bring themselves to address God directly but seek to go to his 'mother', or some other dead person. This is unwise, and only adds to their guilt before the Lord Jesus.

Anyway today I am giving thanks for my three beautiful girls, the bursting health of an early autumn garden and the genius of Fifi in giving that garden shape. A well constructed garden is like a slow seasonal fireworks display in many shades of light green.

Lily Violet leaves home

Neither Fifi or I got teary when our last daughter, Lily Violet, started at school a few weeks ago. It was almost a relief to look forward to a more structured day with larger bits of discretionary time.

But today I got a slightly weepy call from Fifi at the shops, where up until now she had been going with our motor-mouthed Lily Violet and receiving a running commentary on each and every item of shopping and associated activity. Lily Violet, working with the limited vocabulary of a five year old, is usually able to find three things to say about every element of her life. Like a good preacher, she tells you what she is about to say, then she tells you, then she tells you what she just said. It is quite infuriating and one of the most delightful aspects of having her as our daughter.

And now I'm feeling a bit sad too.

Sydney Philharmonia—I'm in

My darling wife Fifi has been encouraging me for a while to get back into a choir. I love it, and she loves it that I love it. Her concern for my happiness is gracious and undeserved.

So, last week I just wandered in with the crowd at the Sydney Philharmonia and looked over someone's shoulder, more or less hoping I'd blend in. But some of these choir dudes are pretty sharp, and anyway Shelley who invited me had introduced me to some of them, so last night I had to audition.

It was not a friendly audition, let me say. Not like auditioning for the Victoria Chorale, where I have only the faintest memory of even having to do it, or for the Melbourne Chamber Choir, where the delightful but slightly dotty Faye Dumont told me what a wonderful sight-reading job I was doing. And although it was not unfriendly either, this was more like being hauled up in front of the judges in one of those 'You've Got Talent' things you see on the telly, except without the audience; in the back room with a small piano. (Do you remember the bit in John Safran vs God where he auditions for the Harlem Gospel Choir?) Short on time, down to business.

I was hoarse, it's been 10 years since I sang in a serious choir, so there I was with my Christian Praise hymn book in hand, slightly nervous. Cheerful hello from Brett the director, "Come through here please." No warm-ups, brisk "what are you going to sing for us?" I launched tentatively into verse one of No. 89, Thou who was rich, beyond all splendour. "Second verse please, this time would you sing out, sing operatically and give us a lot of sostenuto".

Limped through that, and we went straight into some frighteningly atonal sequences of five to eight notes at a time. "I'll play these once, then you sing them please." Half a dozen of those."Sing the bottom note of each of these chords please." Half a dozen of those. Now are there any of these hymns you don't know?—actually that's a leading question isn't it, here's what we're singing tonight, start from there please." I sing. Brett stops playing and stands up "OK, now I'm going to stand next to you, you take the bass line, I'll take the baritone, from here, 3—4—." We sing.

"Good, I'll need to listen to you again. Oh, you're in by the way, what part did you sing last week? OK, you'll need to look on again, make sure you sit at the end of the row."

Polite, to the point, and so I sight-read my way through another evening of choir. It was quite the most intense audition I've ever had. But nothing at all compared to the three young people auditioning for the part of assistant conductor. They had half an hour each, doing Brett's work for him, on some of the most difficult choral music I've seen in a very long time indeed (Poulenc's Stabat Mater).

So now we perform in about three weeks. I got my own copy of the music for the first time at the end of last night's rehearsal. For some reason I'm thinking about the badges I used to get after doing first aid tests in the Air Scouts.

I couldn't be happier!

Oh, and Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour has a glorious statement of the reason for Christ's incarnation in the second verse, so I was happy to sing it out loud and strong:

2. Thou who art God beyond all praising,
All for love's sake becamest man;
Stooping so low, but sinners raising
Heavenwards by thine eternal plan!
Thou who art God beyond all praising,
All for love's sake becamest man.

Flowers

The one day of the year I will absolutely not (never, ever, GST) buy flowers for Fifi is Valentine's Day. My passionate hatred of Valentine's Day, with its crass, manipulative, overblown, overcommercialized and generally poxy nature burns brighter than the white-hot heat of a thousand suns.

However I did buy her some birds of paradise this morning, and what's more they WEREN'T ON SPECIAL. (You could buy roses for 60% off, but roses are not our flower of choice).

How are you?

Our German friends A and M were puzzled by this regular question from people they have never met before, ranging from people at church through to waitresses in coffee shops.

Fifi explained to them that the answer, in Australia at least, is always 'fine, thankyou' for any condition of life ranging from a mild headache through to having your kidney stolen from you while unconscious in the hotel bathroom.

Cuba's peak oil crisis

Last week we had a family outing to Permaculture North, a group of which Fifi is a part (if you click through on that link and look carefully, you will see that in the top photo Fifi is there! Back row, third from left, dark blue t-shirt).

We trooped into the council chambers at Ryde Civic Centre, a six story modernist block built in the year of my birth, and watched a fascinating documentary called The Power of Community: How Cuba survived Peak Oil. After the collapse of the former Soviet Union and during the early 90s they lost more than 50% of their oil supply virtually overnight, rendering most of their cars obsolete and having massive effects on agriculture and trade. They lost 80% of their export market, imports fell by 80% and Gross Domestic Product by 30%. The average Cuban lost 30 pounds in weight, due to food shortages.

To cut a long story short the place is a permaculturalist's dream— permaculture being a system that emphasizes sustainable organic agriculture at a local level. This is what they've done in Cuba, among many other things.

The most impressive statistic I saw in the film is that the life expectancy of the average Cuban has not gone down, despite the crisis, and remains on a level with the life expectancy of the average US citizen. Their infant mortality rate is actually slightly lower than that of the US.

The girls made it through about 2/3 of the movie before I had to take them outside for pizza!

Tim R's slogan question

Tim R asks a good question about my post on slogans, here.

Tim, I think that rightly understood the maturity of individual Christians is inseparable from the growing of the gospel message throughout the world.

Let me take slight issue with this bit of your quote:

...[it's not that] Paul is not concerned or involved in the sending of others and the spreading of the gospel, he does, however seem strongly concerned for the maturity of the individual, that the "end point" (I'm not sure I like my term) of the Church should be to present all perfect in Christ, mature in Him, to see that all finish running the race, to receive the crown etc. etc.

[italics mine]

Is this really the church's end point? I am not sure it is. If the church has a purpose

(and one of my favourite theologians, Broughton Knox, said the church has no purpose at all, it is the purpose—not an exact quote)

then it is to bring glory to God through his son Jesus Christ.

See Ephesians 1, esp vv 3-14, esp within them vv 8-9, and esp vv 20-23 and within them esp v 23—oh ok then, let's say especially the whole chapter!

Then when you continue his argument on into chapter 2 and chapter 3, you find at the climax of the argument towards the end of Ephesians 3 the following:

Eph. 3:7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

and then again

Eph. 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Eph. 3:20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

You see here in Ephesians 3 that glory to God comes through the church and is revealed to the whole of creation ("rulers and authorities in the heavenly places"—but if them, then everyone and everything).

So the point at issue is how we bring glory to God (soli Deo Gloria, one of the five great Reformation slogans). And this happens, in Ephesians and elsewhere, as we know him and proclaim him in the world. (Knowing will of course involve growing, or it is not true knowing).

I may be stretching, but is one of your interests in asking that you are concerned about doing evangelism in church meetings versus looking after the regulars by giving in-depth teaching and doing other things that will cater for their needs? If not, then feel free to ignore this as a silly question on my part. I have no idea whether it reflects your current situation!

Oh, and here is a great passage about what it's all about, 'it' including the church, I believe. It's Paul writing in 1 Corinthians:

15:20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

You see? The glory of God, manifested only in and through the glory of the Son, in fulfilment of the Son's prayer in John 17.

Now, it may be that God's "end point" (as you describe it) for us is that we be presented mature in Christ and so on. that's in Ephesians 5:21-31, Revelation 21:1-8, and elsewhere. But again, he does this for his own glory, not us. His love has no basis whatsoever in the righteousness of the ones he loves. (cf. Deut 7:6-8)

Oh, and if I remember I will get Fifi's recipe for that mince. I think the magic ingredient is red lentils. Thanks again for looking after our place.

Hey BTW yours is the first blog I've ever seen that is all profile and no blog! Great collection of music, I must work my way through the list with the help of the local library.

PS Have you seen our can opener?

Lily and fifi in the paper

Adele Horin from the Sydney Morning Herald rang to ask fifi some questions.

Here's the link, they're in the paper!

No photo unfortunately, you have to buy the actual physical paper to get that. How last millennium is that!?