Reflecting on Postaday2011

Let’s blog on blogging. Day eighty of meeting the WordPress “write a post a day” challenge has so far left me unphased. Sure there are times I’ve had to scratch around a bit to find something to write about, but, even on the deadline, something has usually appeared, even if quite innocuous. Surprisingly, the stats show that these are the posts that receive the most hits. Ironically, the most carefully polished and well argued posts receive little attention. One of my biggest surprises is the daily number of hits continuously received by a reference to a news report on geothermal energy in Perth from December 2009. Some of my more self-indulgent posts, like my recent agonising over whether to get an e-reader are also rating comparatively well.

Blogging gurus have often advised to keep blog themes and subject matter confined to a narrow field of interest in order to gain a dedicated following. I have gone in the opposite direction. This blog is similar to aiming a shotgun at a shed and firing off, hoping that some pellets might hit something. It has been far ranging and diverse – probably inviting one-off readers according to whatever tags are searched. No matter – large audiences are not the only reward of blogging. For me the delight is engaging the act of casting one’s bread upon the waters and waiting for whatever returns.

This is a minor blog in the crowded blogosphere, and it has nevertheless led to some interesting connections and conversations from places in the world that would otherwise have remained rather obscure to me. Wisdom has come from unexpected quarters and this is reward enough in itself.

So will I make it through with a daily post to December 31, 2011?

Let’s see what happens tomorrow.

Happy Super Moon Night

Full Moon view from earth In Belgium (Hamois).
Image via Wikipedia

It’s very bright out there tonight – a super moon, they tell us. It seems so close you can reach out and touch it. How many love songs have the beau reaching up and plucking the moon from the sky for his SO?  “Full moons come in different sizes because of the elliptical shape of the moon’s orbit — one side of the ellipse is about 31,000 miles closer to Earth than the other. When the moon is closest to Earth (at its perigee), it is 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than when it’s farthest from the planet (at its apogee).” (ABC News)
Apparently tonight the moon is at the nearest point to earth since 18 years. This, of course. is probably “ho hum!” for astronomers but fascinating and awesome for lay folk like myself. Happy Super Moon Night!

Christmas Island – chickens come home to roost

The location of Christmas Island
Image via Wikipedia

PM – Police poised for more violence on Christmas Island 18/03/2011.

Asylum seekers locked up indefinitely behind gates in overcrowded quarters on a tiny and remote Indian Ocean island.
Some have been there 20 months with no knowledge of expected outcomes.
A plot from “Lost”?
Nope, its what Australia’s Border Protection Policy looks like and there is no evidence that its architects have any regard for humanitarian care, mental health and agreed international conventions on the treatment of asylum seekers.

So they pull a McMurphy and attempt to make a break. Is anyone surprised?

I thought good news was supposed to be palatable…

St. Isaac the Syrian (ortodox icon)
Image via Wikipedia

YouTube – MSNBC Host Makes Rob Bell Squirm: “You’re Amending The Gospel So That It’s Palatable!”.

Rob Bell squirming? I guess it depends on your perspective. I find the polemical and propositional tone of the interview embarrassing at its source more than its reception. I’d be squirming in my effort to remain polite. I haven’t read Bell’s book yet, but I recognise in his argument a proximity to the Eastern Orthodox stance – an understanding that I suspect many of his detractors have no clue about.

Many are the ancient pioneers of the church, along with Augustine, who thought about and reflected on the nature of God’s love revealed and experienced through Jesus. Why the west dips its lid only to Augustine is beyond me! Origen, Irenaeus and a host of others are well worth listening to. St. Isaac the Syrian in the sixth century writes “Paradise is the love of God” and he also writes “…those who are punished in Gehennah, are scourged by the scourge of love”. So the “fire” is the love of God, and we experience His love as either divine love, or as painful “scourge”. See an article from the Orthodox point of view at Heaven and Hell in the Afterlife, According to the Bible.

It would be a good exercise to compare/contrast Rob Bell’s thinking  alongside sound eastern Christian views that have withstood 2000 years of faith and practice.

Disaster fatigue? Donors keep dipping into their pockets

John Donne, one of the most famous Metaphysica...
Image via Wikipedia

Disaster fatigue? Donors keep dipping into their pockets.

This article in the Sydney Morning Herald was written after Christchurch but before Japan! Every indication is that the phenomena of generous responses to sufferers of an unprecedented string of natural disasters continues.

Why is it so? Is it that the depths of sheer collective human empathy run so deep that we will never completely plumb the depths? If so, that’s an encouraging sign for the human race, especially the more well off side often castigated for its self-centredness.

Is it that on this planet ark we feel such a precarious hold on existence that a threat of annihilation to part is perceived as a danger to the whole, and that acts of generosity should be construed to be motivated by an unconscious urge for self-preservation? If so, and depending on one’s predisposition, this could be a heartening sign of the will and drive of the human species to survive. On the other hand, some might perceive this as a selfish motivation and a reduction of the human spirit to mere pragmatism.

So what’s the answer? Some will go into caves to contemplate – others will roll their sleeves up and get stuck into helping whatever way they can. Most will simply try to live their lives according to familiar routines, because this is the best way we know how to cope.

But John Donne was right: “No man [sic] is an island.” No-one remains unaffected. And we will continue to choose our responses.

Epiphanies of Grace launched

Dayspring Centre for Christian Spirituality & Counselling today launched Epiphanies of Grace: Poems and Psalms from the Dayspring community. The launch marks the tenth anniversary of Dayspring’s official presence on the Perth scene.

Dayspring began as a brave venture exploring the possibility of contemplative spirituality amongst folk from a largely conservative and evangelical context – a bit like mixing oil and water, some would wryly observe. Through its program of retreats, workshops, accredited coursework and an extremely well accredited spiritual direction program, Dayspring has acquitted itself well as an ecumenical ministry.

This has not been without its struggle. Dayspring has had its lean times – energy, money and personnel wise.

At the launch, I recited my Orchard Psalm from 2003 and I feel it describes Dayspring’s journey as well as my own at the time. It’s based on Colossians 1:3-14 and was written after helping with some work in New Norcia’s monastery orchard.

Lord, you not only would have me bear fruit
but you say it is already so…
As I look back over my labours and strivings
I see that these have come to nothing –
yet there is richness and fruit abundant –
all the outcomes of your grace!
Were all my strivings worthless then?
Or is there some symbiosis
between my poor labours
and the fecundity of your grace?

In the monastery orchard,
I see fruit trees and vines,
simply being what they are,
bearing fruit in rich fullness.
Yet we laboured to complete the frames
to protect the fruit from marauding fowl.
The frames and the labour that went into them
did not produce the fruit;
however, they guard and protect
what grace has given.
So, Father, may I see my labours –
a response to your grace, to guard and protect,
that all may taste the prodigality of your love!

The book is available from Dayspring at $20 AUS

Temptations – no big deal?

Temptation of Christ (The Temptation on the Mo...
Image via Wikipedia

Temptation is a big deal because it looks like no big deal! Even for Jesus when he is tested by the devil out in the wilderness having fasted 40 days & 40 nights (Matthew 4:1-11) – right? Wrong!

How many times have I heard it said that the temptations were no big deal for Jesus because – after all – he was the Son of God and had the supernatural power to resist!

If this were the case – Jesus would fail to inspire me. If I am to follow his way I need to be confidant that he was homo sapiens in every way – including being tempted every way as I am.

Then there is the nature of the temptations themselves. Don’t focus on the acts – its not about overindulging on chocolate or cheating on income tax. I like what John Shea says about being pulled from expressing one’s true sense of identity when someone else hijacks the agenda. We are distracted from our course. It is the devil who is the initiator and driver of the discourse in the wilderness temptation stories.

It would be easy to focus only on my and the world’s material need – especially in the wake of disaster after disaster and as I watch repeated footage of the horrendous tsunami sweeping over Japan’s coastline. But even as we respond, we realise we need more than bread and shelter to fulfil our human destiny.

I could succumb to the strident demands for “proof of God” that are becoming more and more prevalent and waste a lot of time performing verbal and philosophical tricks that would do little more than entertain., but this distracts me from my true course of living generously from God’s Spirit.

I could put all my faith in the political party that seems closest to bringing about the kind of society that the Sermon on the Mount celebrates, but my focus then becomes displaced as the plumb line shifts and I am forced into compromise for the sake of expedience.

Jesus knew who he was – he had heard himself named and acknowledged as “the Beloved in whom YHWH (the Heart/Mind behind the universe – thanks Bruce Sanguin) is well pleased”. That’s why he beat the wilderness temptations – he was not distracted by arguably worthy but incomplete considerations.

But – is this not the identity of all who seek to follow his light?

This is where my sermon-crunching is heading for tomorrow.

Taking a reading tablet…

I’ve regarded myself as having kept reasonable pace with the techno revolution, but a Luddite corner of my soul has been resisting getting a tablet upon which I can read my e-books. I’ve been in love with books ever since I could read and I have walls lined with crammed bookshelves all the way to the ceiling. There is nothing like the feel of a good book, it looks inviting, it smells delicious, and the tactile adventure of turning its pages has no equal. Necessity has lately had me adding e-books to the catalogue.

This week no less than three colleagues have announced to me their conversion to tablets. And – horror of horrors – I am tugged in their direction! The appealing advantages include the increasing instantaneous availability of e-books, friendliness to the book budget, and the reduced pressure on the environment. Portability of a whole library of books at a reduced weight when travelling is also a strong selling point.

What of those of us who cling to the aesthetics of a tangible artifact? Well there are tablets that replicate the look and feel of turning a page – all that’s needed is a pheromone atomiser that releases the aroma of old paper at the push of a button.

So- to take a tablet or not? The jury is deliberating.