Monthly Archives: October 2005

Is King’s Park a thin place?

28 Friday Oct 2005

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I led a group of theologs in addressing this question earlier this week. King’s Park is a popular tourist spot overlooking Perth. It contains a large number of hectares of natural bushland, the state war memorial, botanic gardens and picnic areas. It is a place of great spiritual significance to the Noongar people.

Our particular exercise was to contemplate the Celtic notion of “thin place” – or where the spirituality of a place is so pervasive that the veil separating heaven from earth grows transparent enough to see from one place into the other. What then are the implications as we share the Christian journey with others? The photo is from the Mt Eliza lookout – usually very crowded on a fine day. This was the middle of the week on a rare bleak day. Less people than usual and a nice Celtic climatic backdrop. It helped! Posted by Picasa

What are weasel words then?

24 Monday Oct 2005

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Don Watson, author of Death Sentence of the English Language, has published Watson’s Dictionary of Weasel Words: contemporary cliches, cant and management jargon. Like a weasel sucking the yolk from an egg while leaving the shell intact, the champions of “weasel words” suck the meaning out of a word.

I received my 2006 diary from Watson’s stable, except its called an “Event Empowerment Tool.”

Read more about this fascinating topic at http://www.weaselwords.com.au/

How would the great commandment sound in weasel-wordese?

23 Sunday Oct 2005

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Perhaps something like this:

“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

“Persons shall adopt measures of high positive regard to the primal executive consultant with maximised internal resources, including all material and notional sources of motivation, and all intellectual capital. This is the prime and initial directive. In addition, a non-primal directive carries similar parameters. Persons shall adopt the same measures of high positive regard in favour of persons of adjacent proximity as for their autonomous investments.”

If this had been the case – no wonder “they dared not ask any more questions!”

Saying What I Mean

11 Tuesday Oct 2005

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This has always been a challenge – finding the words to say what my mind is churning over at a very rapid rate! This is when it’s so easy to lapse into jargon. And the reason I’m thinking about this is because of another strange conjunction of several episodes today – another instance of synchronicity (see earlier post!) I completed a unit on “communication” with the 10-11 year olds down at the local school this morning. It had a lot to do with clarity in sending a message and attentiveness in receiving it, examining the techniques used by Jesus in his teaching. Then came Harry Hayward’s letter in today’s issue of The Australian Christian lamenting the lack of clarity in new church buzzwords such as “missional” and “incarnational.” Soon after, passing a book store, I noticed a special deal on Don Watson’s book against “weasel words” and packaged with a “Weasel Words” 2006 diary! Most of Don Watson’s objection is to fashionable managerial language – much of which has even found its way into church administration. I have a few retired teachers in my congregation who pull me up when I use words that are beyond the call of duty, and I think I am grateful to them. After all, if no-one knows what I’m talking about, why bother to talk?

Reckless Generosity

07 Friday Oct 2005

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I like this quote from Dorothy Day:

“To attack poverty by preaching voluntary poverty seems like madness. But again, it is direct action….To be profligate in our love and generosity, spontaneous, to cut all the red tape of bureaucracy! The more you give away, the more the Lord will give you to give. It is a growth in faith. It is the attitude of the [person] whose life of common sense and faith is integrated. To live with generosity in times of crisis is only common sense. In the time of earthquake, flood, fire, people give recklessly; even governments do this.”

Reminds me of the “loaves and fishes” principle. The more you give the more there is to give. Hard to get that across in some church budgetary processes – not my current one, I hasten to add!