Wednesday, June 15, 2022

The child we never new

 

The child we never new

 

Jennifer Sue Burke was born at Gosford hospital in Australia at six months and 22 days gestation on 15th June 1952. She died there one day and six hours later.

 

Her mother never saw her, as was the custom of the day.  Her father saw her but briefly before a burial in an unmarked grace at Point Care cemetery near the family home at Woy Woy.

 

On earth Jennifer was an almost unknown child whose life came and went as a mist (Jas 4:14). She was the grass that came and went in a day (Ps 90:5-6). Her days took little numbering (Ps 90:10).

 

Jennifer was almost unknown on earth but known in eternity. For her parents were Christian believers. And so, just as Abraham’s son was counted as yours before his years of faith (Gen 17:1-13), so was Jennifer. And, as with all, you formed her inward parts, knitted her together in her mother’s womb and wrote her life in your book (Ps 139:13-16). And because of your covenant promises and her parents’ faith, Jennifer is yours as surely as those of her family who profess and maintain faith in Christ (Acts 2:38; 16:33).

 

Jennifer’s body is long dissolved in that unmarked grace as she turns 70 today. Yes she lives with you in eternity. She was spared her frail tent of an outer nature that wasted away, in order to be swallowed up by life (2 Cor 4:16 – 5:5). She, the youngest of her family was the first to see you face to face Rev 21:1-4; 22:1-5) and I guess she may even be there to welcome the rest of us when the number of our earthly days come to their end.

 

How good is the grace that saves even newborn infants!

 

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

View from the view - thanks to the pastors

 

A letter to the shepherds of God’s people,

 

Thanks!

 

Many of you are doing it tough right now.

 

You and your family are affected by the rolling lock-downs and are tired of the daily commute to the living room, kitchen, and back yard. Perhaps you are caught up in difficult circumstances at home, your family income may have dropped and maybe you or loved ones have been a Covid contact or contract. And there is the silent grief for that family holiday or wedding, or the relatives or friends who are now just pixels in another zoom call. And the  tension around that daily press conference and the ever-changing restrictions.

 

And then there is church.

 

Like most people, you want to be physically near people, for that’s how God made us. As a pastor you want to invest in the lives of your congregation for caregiving and discipleship. You may be struggling to post a tolerable online service each week. Meanwhile ‘helpful’ members tell you about that church elsewhere that has a fantastic online programme that they and their family watch. Then there are the people who you have been trying to draw in from the margins and who just drift off. And there are the older saints, as loyal as superglue, but whose underlying health makes them loathe to venture out to church again.  There’s another church meeting tonight, but you feel like a zoombie at 10am. Oh – the treasurer called to say that income is a Covid casualty and the accounts are threadbare. Ruefully, you look at your ministry planner and see all those initiatives that were an integral part of the five-year plan – and with a sigh you hit ‘delete’.

 

You knew ministry was tough but weren’t ready to be a fireman or a punching bag. This family that has suddenly exploded over differing views on vaccination. That member who is paralysed by conspiracy theories read on the internet. The year 12 and final year uni students, couples with wedding plans, forthcoming retirees – all these people in various transitions that are now as uncertain as tomorrow’s Covid numbers. The bereaved family wanting a funeral. All around you, people who are angry, fearful, and suspicious and who transfer that to you in various ways.

 

Thank you!

 

Thank you for persisting in ministry. Thank you for the tiring phone calls to catch up with us. Thank you for the deliveries of food and treats to needy people paid from your own pocket. Thank you for praying for us. And thank you for lifting our hearts to the big horizons of God who knows what’s going on before it happens, who is all good and all faithful and who continues to reconcile all things in Christ.

 

Want a word of advice? (Feel free to say ‘no’.)

 

Look after yourself and be kind to yourself and your family. You too are a finite, flawed and needy creature. Eat and drink healthy – and enjoy an occasional treat. Get out to dig the garden, play with the kids, take that walk or run. And especially, hit God’s gym to use the means of grace as you linger in the word, in prayer and in music that sings the Lord’s word into your heart. Please do all this so you stay well and so you have reserve capacity to be God’s fireman and punching bag as we dump our problems on you.

 

Thank you for loving God and his people through these times.

Sunday, August 8, 2021

Preaching and teaching

 

Teaching and preaching

 

For the last week and the next two weeks I am teaching a class on weekdays. I sit in front of a camera and the students sit in another building in front of the screen.

 

Today, Sunday, I am preaching. I sit in front of a camera and my hearers sit in other buildings in front of their screens.

 

Monday to Friday we open our Bibles, pray and I talk. Today we open our Bibles, pray and I talk.

 

So what’s the difference?

 

On Monday to Friday there is difference in methodology. I talk to the students, they talk to me and they talk with one another. They work in small groups and individually to produce oral assignments that testify to, express and cement their learning.

 

The Monday to Friday class involves 40 hours of teaching over some weeks. Preaching has a different time frame and is more a one-way communication.

 

My teaching is of a unit of Scripture, and so is the preaching – and so the content is common.

 

A key difference between my preaching and teaching is in the emphasis among outcomes. Both preaching and teaching have goals of head learning, attitudinal change and change in actions. This is the ABC of education: Affective, Cognitive and Behavioural learning. To paraphrase Kant, teaching without actions is empty and preaching without content is empty.

 

As I say the difference is of emphasis in outcomes. If the students in my class emerge with more knowledge of the contents of this part of the Bible and increased skills in using it in ministry to themselves and others, then my work is considered well done. It’s different in preaching. The cognitive content in my preaching is a means to an end – I long to see lives changed as attitudes are transformed under the Spirit-illumined word and I want those changed attitudes to manifest in changed actions.

 

The different emphasis among goals informs my prayers and preparation. For teaching, I use the educator’s various arts. My prayer is for faithfulness and clarity in what I say, the ability to teach in ways that connect and for the students to build their knowledge and cognitive skills. When preaching I pray for faithfulness, clarity and connection in my words and that my life gives them integrity. My prayer is that God is present through his Spirit to break down defences, soften the hardness of heart and turn unbelievers into believers, believers into followers and followers into gospel servants.

 

Teaching are preaching are not so close as to be identical and not so different as to be antithetical.

 

Thursday, August 5, 2021

A prayer on starting to read the prophet Joel

 

A prayer, on starting to read the prophet Joel.

Lord, I thank you for this book to which I turn today.

I read very different views about exactly what part of OT history it belongs to and so I guess that I must live with that unresolved.

I do know that it has the usual big prophetic themes of your judgement and salvation which lie at the heart of the eternal gospel. So, help me hear the warnings of judgement and not imagine that I am exempt if I prove to be a covenant breaker. But let me also hear the promise of your generous salvation for those who heed the call to ‘cry out to the Lord’, (Jl 1:14), ‘tremble’ (2:1) and ‘return to you will all your heart . for he is gracious and merciful’ (2:12-13) that ‘you shall know that I am the Lord your God’ (3:17)

What I also know is this book was shaped as you carried men along by your Spirit (2 Pet 1:20-21), that it is all-inspired and all-useful to teach, train, correct and rebuke so that I might be fully formed for you (2 Tim 3:15-17).

 So please help me approach this book with the humility that this is your word, that came to Joel, and which speaks into my life now. Please send your Spirit to illuminate me so that I can understand your word and it transform me in this day when your Spirit has been poured on all flesh (2:28; 1 Cor 2:6-16).

Amen

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Re-thinking ordination

 

Re-thinking ordination

 

Back in the 1970s many of us learned to be suspicious of ordination and all that went with it. The spectacle of some leaders being given special status among the people of God seemed contrary to the essential equality of all people in creation, fall and redemption. When accompanied by the wearing of special clergy robes and designation as “Rev” and then the clambering for such giddy titles as “Right Rev.” and “Very Rev.”, the whole ordination thing seemed reminiscent of Matt 23:1-12.

 

However, maybe all these problems were products of the particular construction of ordination in an era when a liturgical movement had swept the church. That construction separated ordained clergy from the people of God and from the eldership. Clergy were placed on a pedestal (with all its perils), the eldership was diminished (with all its perils) and the people of God were left behind in this hierarchical understanding of church (a tragedy).

 

The presently rising pattern of non-ordained persons being entrusted with significant pastoral ministries in our churches may be a reaction against the abuse of ordination as noted above. However, is it time for another look at ordination?

 

Maybe it is time again to value ordination as an orderly process to test, affirm and recognise those people who are called by God and the church to pastoral ministry.

 

* 1 Timothy bear witness to such an orderly process. Hence:

·      * 1 Tim 2:7 on Paul’s appointment as a preacher, apostle and teacher;

·      * 1 Tim 3:1-13 on the criteria of character and gifting applicable to church leaders;

·      * 1 Tim 4:6 on the value of training in the ‘words of the faith’ and ‘doctrine’;

·      * 1 Tim 4:13 on the key word ministries to be undertaken by leader;

·  * 1 Tim 4:14 on the recognition of the role of the ‘council of elders’ (πρεσβυτέριον) in recognising gifts of ministry (see also 2 Tim 1:6b);

·      * 1 Tim 6:2 on expected standards for the content of teaching by church leaders.

 

The context of 1 Timothy is relevant to this discussion. Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus to continue his own ministry elsewhere (1 Tim 1:3). This was an apostolic delegation which many see as part of the transition from the extraordinary and time-bound office of apostle to the more enduring office of pastor or shepherd. We do know that Timothy had been well-reared in the faith by his maternal ancestors (2 Tim 1:5; 3:14). However, he was also young, subject to youthful passions (2 Tim 2:22), possibly subject to self-doubt (2 Tim 1:7) and open to dismissive treatment because of his youth (2 Tim 4:12).

 

The ordination process in Australian Presbyterian churches involves several steps over an extended time.

·      * Interview and recommendation by the applicant’s home church Session;

·     *  Interview and recommendation by the applicant’s regional Presbytery;

·      * Psychological assessment by a trained professional;

·      * Interview with the Candidate’s Review Panel;

·     * Annual review and reporting by the theological college where the student trains;

·     *  Annual interview and review by the regional presbytery;

·      * Trials for license by the regional presbytery;

·  * Review by a congregation or church agency when issuing a Call of Appointment;

·      * Review by the ordaining presbytery.

 

Put together, this adds up to review by two levels of church courts (Session and Presbytery) and up to 15 separate reviews over a four-year period. This process will not necessarily filter out all unsuitable persons and there have been some tragedies of unsuitable people being ordained over the years. Such tragedies affects the individuals, their families, and the churches that they serve.  However, the extended scrutiny around ordination surely provides a better alternative to the much leaner process of review when a local church and its presbytery entrust pastoral ministry to a somewhat untested person.

 

Back to Timothy. The recognition and affirmation of Timothy by Paul and the council of elders was important as testimony both to him and to the church as to his suitability for ministry.

 

Likewise for the modern pastor.

 

The fact that the laying of hands in ordination was not rushed (1 Tim 5:22) is a reassurance to the pastor in those many dark moments when he doubts his calling and reaches for the ‘positions vacant’ section of the Saturday paper. The extended scrutiny by others is an external testimony to his vocation as pastor and an encouragement to persist through the dark moments. The fact of ordination also commends him to other churches when it is time to move to a new ministry. 

 

Furthermore, ordination gives reassurance to the church that receives a somewhat unknown pastor who may be young enough to be the grandson of church members. The fact that he has been carefully scrutinised by reputable bodies over an extended period commends his ministry and encourages the new church to give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

By all means let’s scrap the titles, robes and assumed status that can be implied by the traditional construct of ordination. Equally, let’s locate the work of pastor within the eldership rather than as a separate order and let’s recognise the gifting and service of the whole people of God. However, let’s not lightly dismiss the value of orderly processes to test and affirm those called to pastoral ministry.

 

Of course, the same applies to all roles in church service. The youth leader, small group leader or teacher of children all need processes of testing, training and affirmation before being appointed to their roles. However, the high potential of pastoral leaders to do good or harm demands that they receive particular scrutiny before their ministry is recognised.

 

Maybe ordination is a good thing after all.

- David Burke was almost refused ordination in 1979 because of his views on clergy titles and robes.

 

Reproduced from Australian Presbyterian: https://ap.org.au/2021/06/08/re-thinking-ordination/

Sunday, April 11, 2021

The royal death - a Prince has fallen

 

The royal death - a prince has fallen

 

For him,

No lowered flags,

sombre bells or muffled drums.

No tributes from dignitaries near and far,

broadcast specials or royal sepulchre.

 

Just,

A crown of thorns,

A spear in his side.

The father turned his face aside

While soldiers mocked and cast their lots,

 

A last breath,

He cries: ‘it is finished’ and

‘Into your hands I commit my spirit’

And, as in the beginning,

darkness and silence befell the earth.

 

And then,

A furtive burial - a borrowed tomb,

Just some women to mark the spot.

While church and state praised themselves,

‘Another troublemaker hits the dust’.

 

But then,

These bones could not turn to dust,

buried beside royals gone past.

His thorns our crown.

His tomb, our womb.

 

One Prince,

Fallen to rise no more,

Carried to his grave by they that mourn.

Another, to rise that glad morn

And ride on, ride on, in majesty.


Friday, March 19, 2021

On being a victim

 

Being a victim

 

Day by day the list of people identified as victims seems to grow. The latest one is reported in a recent news article: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-19/who-finds-billions-suffer-from-ageism/100016688. So that’s victims based on race, gender, sexual orientation (dis)ability, cultural and religious background, injustice, violence and now age. Doubtless the list could be added to and will be added to.

 

Is any of us not a victim? Even for a white-skinned, educated male like me who grew up in a stable family and who has  suffered little during a largely untroubled life, I’m sure there’s an area of victimisation somewhere – even if it’s only the oncoming process of ageing or the general condition of being a fallen person in a fallen world.

 

To say this is not to belittle suffering or the harsh realities of those who, amidst the general fallen condition of humanity, have particular suffering, prejudice and discrimination because of who they are. These are real realities. They hurt. They matter. As we are each able, we should join the struggle to minimise such particular suffering and help care for those who are its victims. And we should examine ourselves and take responsibility for any ways in which we make others victim.

 

Instances abound of people who refuse to be defined by their victim-hood. I think of two friends with profound but different physical disabilities which have a range of other limiting effects. Both have striven to do work-around for the disability and lead flourishing lives. One even expresses thankfulness for his disability, saying that it has opened realities for him that otherwise he would have missed. I think of another with a perplexing mental illness but who could see how it opened marvellous creative capacities in her life.

 

The apostle Paul had reasons to claim status as a victim. Because he changed religion, he became an outsider to his cultural community and attracted unwanted attention from law-enforcement agencies. He lists and ‘boasts’ of all this in 2 Cor. 11:23-28. Yet more was to be added to this list before he died for his religious beliefs.

 

Yet Paul refuses to be defined as a victim. And so, he writes:

 

11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Phil 4:11-13.

 

For Paul, it’s a choice to be contented, whatever the circumstances. Even from a prison cell imposed by an unjust process, he looks to flourish (Phil 1:12-18. See also Acts 16:19-25). Behind that, lies his confidence that whatever nasty things life throws at us, God is always working for the good of his people and nothing can separate them form God’s love (Rom 8:28-30).

 

So, there’s the choice. We can rail against the unfairness of our victimhood and be defined by it in limiting and possibly harmful ways, or we can accept our circumstances, choose contentment and flourish as we can and where we are.

 

Victimhood or victoriousness?