by tashmcgill | Jun 12, 2007 | god ideas, Uncategorized
“We try and make the world safe, knowing that the world will never be safe as long as millions live in poverty so a few can live as they wish.” Shane Claiborne, The Irresistable Revolution
Song Of The Moment : Oh Sister
by Bob Dylan
Oh, sister, when I come to lie in your arms
You should not treat me like a stranger.
Our Father would not like the way that you act
And you must realize the danger.
Oh, sister, am I not a brother to you
And one deserving of affection?
And is our purpose not the same on this earth,
To love and follow his direction?
We grew up together
From the cradle to the grave
We died and were reborn
And then mysteriously saved.
Oh, sister, when I come to knock on your door,
Don’t turn away, you’ll create sorrow.
Time is an ocean but it ends at the shore
You may not see me tomorrow.
by tashmcgill | May 25, 2007 | god ideas, Uncategorized
Failing Forward
Stories of failure permeate our contexts, whether spoken or unspoken. Steve raises the question of how telling our stories of failure helps or contributes. This has been a subject of contemplation for me lately in reviewing both my own experiences and the stories of others.
It’s a curious part of the human condition, that we are so poor at redemption. Which is, in turn, why that is the business best left to God and worked out through us and in us. Failure stories thrust us into the middle of redemption at work. I find even in my short lifetime that it is very rare for something to fail and then finish.
Failure is so often followed by regret, suspense, debrief, analysis, discussion, avoidance, guilt, confrontation, conflict, new beginnings, wishes, could’ves, if onlys and reflection. Even when small failures are found in amongst success stories, the failure lingers longer.
It’s so important to bring these failure stories into the light, especially when are failures are not sin-related stories, but rather the stories where God-filled possibilities ended in a different place than where we expected.
I think of a friend who followed God’s prompting to the letter, in the face of so many friends and associates predicting failure. “Failure” came, and left things undone, but not without hope. Redemption came, and esteem, reputation and the team of people involved were all restored to optimism. My friend still places God at the centre of failing, and wouldn’t change a thing, despite the cost. For him, obedience to God led to failure. More than that, it was a failure that God was in the midst of. In telling our own stories of failure, we show people that God can be present right in the midst of failure. That’s precious ground in a Christian world filled with success stories.
My senior pastor once floored a room of seventeen year olds, by sharing his own deep sense of personal failure in regards to some mission time spent overseas. Failure makes us all a little more human, which in turn, is a little more divine.
“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.” ee cummings
by tashmcgill | May 15, 2007 | god ideas, Uncategorized, worship
Holding My Breath
This one’s for the lonely. Hold your breath with me. Close your eyes and let it out slowly. You are ok. We are going to be just fine.
“There is much mental suffering in our world. But some of it is suffering for the wrong reason because it is born out of the false expectation that we are called to take each other’s loneliness away. “
Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out
It’s too easy to fall back onto others to fulfil the emotional and physical expectations of what it would feel like to be present in our own lives. We live so vicariously in our own skin through the people we experience our life with. Their reactions, words and responses to us begin to shape our own perception and satsfaction with life. We fill our loneliness with other people because we are so terrified of ‘aloneness’. Aloneness requires we know ourselves before and beyond the reactions, words and responses of others. It requires we are physically present in our own lives without interaction or touch from another body. It means we feel each breath and step, and own it. No wonder we would rather fill up our loneliness.
As much as the body aches to be known, the spirit to be loved, the mind to be explored by ‘Others’.. so it longs to be known by the occupant. Take a deep breath and dive into ‘aloneness’… you will find loneliness is not so bad.
Love Love Love
we never think things through
We fall all over each other
And there’s no telling exactly how this ends
cos we fall over each other to get to it
I certainly need you
red wine nights and moonlight songs
It’s so much waiting at the door
it’s as little as needs to be said
between the dawn and the dusk of it
How many days must we do the same old things
To get to the same old places that only bring us back
To misery
Your love is a lightening strike
A deep, dark warmth on a cooling night
A walking contradiction I can’t go past
so I come here again
how many days must we do the same old things
still find one another at the end of it
Said the Lover of the Beloved
“Who is this that grows like the dawn, as beautiful as the full moon, as pure as the sun, as awesome as an army with banners?”
Song of Songs 6.10
All jokes about clusters, vineyards, fawns and gazelles aside .. isn’t this the most stunning line you have ever read?
by tashmcgill | May 7, 2007 | god ideas, Uncategorized
Attitude
I’ve been thinking a lot about the requirements of intercession that are held so strongly in tension with the insight or observations that we make of the world around us and the people we interact with.
I’m in serious need of a holiday, because I am finding this so hard. I’m so tired that I’m lazy in the discipline of graciousness and holiness which should be so common day. I’m finding it far too easy to neglect those basic daily tasks which actually restore so much life and revival.
Song of the Moment – You
by Fisher
It’s late now, time to sleep
Close your eyes, go to dreams
Clouds on walls and blue skies
Mommy’s sun, her moon, her stars
And you, you make me run
And you, you make me want to live
Your smiles – well they make my day
You don’t know it yet but you’re everything
This little song – well it’s for you
These lovely years here with you
And you, you make me run
And you, you make me want to live
And you, you make me run
And you, you make me want to live
For you
by tashmcgill | Apr 24, 2007 | god ideas, Uncategorized
When You Don’t Find What You’re Looking For In The Usual Places..
I’m going on a journey with a good friend at the moment. I’ll say that it’s a journey we’re on together, because I’ve taken the liberty and he’s created the opportunity for a commitment to walking the path with him.
Sometimes life takes unexpected turns, and the boundaries you grew up building your life inside need to change, because life is bigger and messier than what those boundaries allow for.
It reminds me of the Fences & Wells picture. You don’t need boundaries if you dig deep enough wells. The cattle learn for themselves to stay close to the source. Boundary lines and fences create false realities. You might be perfectly safe within the lines, but you still need to know where to find the Living Water.
Epidemics of the young adult community could be described and defined by the exploration of a couple of ideas that keep floating around my brain; ideas that are all part of the latest journey I’ve committed to being part of.
1. Being a “young adult” is a transition and not a lifestage.
Basically – being a young adult is being on the way to something else – adulthood. Adulthood carries all the implications of development, responsibility, understanding, cognitive thinking ability, recognition of risk and assessment etc. When you start to treat this transition period as a “stage of life” ministry, you actually inhibit the need for ‘graduating’ from adolescent development to fully-fledged adulthood, hence trapping mid-late 20-somethings into post-juvenile behaviour patterns and sociological norms.
2. Theological understanding still does not correlate to “relationship with God”.
There are still too many people in my own generation that can discuss theological moots at length and feel self-satisfied at the end of it. However, the ability to discourse with theological, even ‘spiritual’ prowess is moderately hampered when it comes to relating to a God that operates and calls His followers out of the boundary lines of ‘normal society’. This creates an uncomfortable tension for thinking believers when confronted with a faith that requires them to re-create the canvas of their lives. Our approach to spiritual education and development has left people theologically equipped but life-application deprived. When challenged to seek God’s direction, they stumble to find how to pray, how to listen, how to interpret and especially how to wait. The ancient practices of holiness and devotion are almost completely foreign.
So, one could say that there is little impetus to ‘grow up’ and even less practical, common societal education about how to ‘grow up’ without replicating the boundaries found common in the lives of parents, church leaders, society leaders.
The issue here, and that is common to the journey that brings me to this point – is that the mere replication of the behaviours, beliefs and practices of our parent’s generation isn’t the goal. The world has changed so dramatically since the 1960s that it would be imprudent to imagine God’s outworking in the world hasn’t expanded in all the same ways that our basic human expression & communication habits have.
Therefore…
When you’ve looked in all the usual places for the pathway of your life, for the vision, the purpose, the call, to find the ‘river’ so to speak .. and you’ve come up trumps…. how do you go about digging a well (I suspect that the well looks a lot like some basic disciplines) while you take down the fences… all the while trying to impart bravery and courage to the one for whom parameters and expectations are slowly shifting.
You start by looking in the unusual places. Ok, we’ve done that. Now the next exciting part of the journey begins.
In Other “Thinking News”
Aw, shucks. Etnobofin has tagged me with one of these…
A couple of days ago Marko was tagged as well, so I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by the calibre here! However, let’s face it .. these are more of a gimmick than anything else, but I’ll happily play along. Here’s how it works; the participation rules are simple:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn’t fit your blog).
So.. here are the “thinking five”… (in the interests of being honest, I HAVE to revisit…)
1. PostSecret – this is consistently challenging, invigorating and inspiring pop culture.
2. Mark Oestreicher – now a friend, as well as one of a small number of ‘thinking’ youthworkers. We need more people who will engage with the science & the faces of youth ministry.
3. Stu McGregor – I don’t always agree with Stu, but I certainly appreciate his unique and strong perspectives on theology, community and youth ministry. His journey into the next phase is going to be worth walking alongside.
4. Paul Windsor – Principal of Carey Baptist College and one of the practical theologians and hymn-lovers I respect so much.
5. …. I’m going to have to decide tomorrow.
by tashmcgill | Apr 23, 2007 | god ideas, Uncategorized
Thoughts That Need Some Space To Live. Reflection Invited.
brian winslade says that i’m a stream-of-consciousness communicator. this is true probably 90% of the time. but there are moments, late at night, when my journal becomes a very structured record of what’s going on. then there are times like this where it just feels like there is so much crammed in my head, some of these thoughts need space to live somewhere outside of my brain.
1.
make sure there is always someone in your life you’d be willing to lay yours down for. it’s a humbling way to keep your own priorities in perspective. friends to die for are friends worth living with. find them and learn to love them really well, how they need to be loved. you’ll be filled with love in the process.
2.
fall in love on a regular basis. it will change your perspective. fall in love with people, your family first – only fall in love with one lover at a time – then your friends. they are who makes you, shapes you and tells you the truth most often. you need to love them enough to listen. fall in love with ideas, ideals and the bigger picture. hope in the more eternal things will give you perseverance in the day-to-day. fall in love with the small moments that make your heart big – places where you find generosity, peace, love and good wine.
3.
get a big God. one that isn’t scared of impossible and unimaginable things. too many of us live with a little itty-bitty God that can’t seem to handle the things we battle with. so we work too hard protecting and defending our little God from the things that don’t really matter, and make a poor name for ourselves in the process. get a big God that isn’t bothered by the small stuff – for Greater is He that is in Us, with Us, alongside Us – than he that is in the world. (thanks Rob Harley)
4.
be a river, not a flood. floods sure have bulk, and impact – but they run without purpose and stop only when they can go no further and they’ve covered everything with messy water. rivers cut a course through the earth, can shift direction, bring life and fertility to the earth surrounding them, rather than destroying life. being a river reflects a willingness to leap into the stream, to find direction, to lead and let others follow you, to be comfortable with responsibility, prepared to grow up. being a river reflects a certain amount of clarity and purpose. a flood goes everywhere in confusion until it stagnates, but a river is always moving.
5.
where there is a vision, a purpose, a call – there is clarity. if there is no clarity, put your tools down until the vision becomes clear. there is no timeline but God’s on a vision that is truly from Him. plenty of good ideas disguise themselves as vision until the moment where clarity is required comes. clarity is a close friend of wisdom, mercy and grace. it doesn’t always mean everything is clear all at once, but clarity is actually only required step by step. faith takes care of the rest.
6.
believe in someone & find people who’ll consistently offer up their belief in you. believe in God, that will give you hope. believe that together you can make a difference that will change at least one person, and maybe affect the world for the rest of us, the universe for the rest of time. humanity finds itself perfected in a partnership with divinity.
7.
consistency and integration are key to surviving life with hope, effectiveness and a growing faith. you’ve got to learn not to be blown around in the wind of people-pleasers or hidden agendas. openness and honesty about what you’re looking will go a long way in regards to finding it. once you learn to stand on your own two feet you’ll be surprised how much you can lean on the people who’ll be drawn around you.
8.
learn to say what you mean, when you need to say it. speaking hard truths in love requires practice so it does little good to wait until the measure of your wisdom gives you undue confidence in the endeavour of loving people well. being practising now, so that as your wisdom grows, so does your ability to share insight.
