last nite at enGAGE (our sunday evening vineyard church congregation weekly gathering) we held an open mic vibe not after ‘church’, not on a different day to ‘church’, not instead of ‘church’, but as church, and it was great it was a celebration of some of the talents and giftings that God has placed in different people in our group and so we sat around tables and munched on chips and sweets and spinach and [...]
Oh. Oh? As in really? You... you're sure? Certain? All-powerful. Oh? Faithful. Oh? All-loving. Unconditionally so. Even me? Even my stuff? Me? Oh? Oh really? As in 'really really?' Like real miracles? Actual miraculous occurances? Blind seeing, deaf hearing, lame walking? Dead being raised? Oh. I get it. It's a metaphoric death. An inner blindness. Deaf to the words of the Holy Scriptures speaking to my disobedient ears. Able to walk tall in the knowledge [...]
so i suspect this will be a recurring blog theme cos like an incessant ‘are we there yet?’ passes through the long-holiday-journey hourglass of eternal automobile moments, so seems the latest bottle of 2010 SA choice wine - a somewhat bitter-sweet cabinet with subtle hints of preach, cynicmon and sulktana – and so quite possibly the remedy is to keep on writing ‘shutuporleave, shutuporleave, shutuporleave, shutuporleave’ as continuously and in as varied an array of [...]
don’t drink don’t smoke don’t be gay don’t have an abortion don’t say fuck, shit, bloody, damn, bitch don’t have sex before you are married don’t get drunk don’t dress that way don’t listen to that kind of music don’t watch pornography don’t dance provocatively and so on... or... Be known by the Love you have one for another. hm, tough choice. i am not saying i agree with or condone or am promoting some [...]
i write a weekly thort for the week aimed at challenging Christ followers to actively live out what they believe - longer than my normal blog posts but i think this is important reading, living. Dear friends This week’s thort is specifically aimed at people living in South Africa but feel free to relate it to your specific context – i just feel after this week that God is calling up people who will speak [...]
so last nite we had another incredible time with enGAGE – our church congregation – i preached a talk called ‘The Crit of the Hippo’ – crit being and assessment, a mark, an evaluation... and hippo being a really big creature... so The Big Evaluation essentially... and of course the words ‘crit’ and ‘hippo’ combining nicely to form the word ‘hypocrite’ of which the original meaning was simply actor – so being someone you are [...]
“i’m talking bout the man in the mirror – ooh yeah – i’m askin him to change his face... ooh wa... and no message, could have been, any clearer... if you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and change your face” [Michael Jackson, adapted by plastic surgeons anonymous] yes i know that’s not the line but it’s the one i always sing when i hear of that song – [...]
so my beautiful wife Valerie for some reason purchased some Playtime Barney the Dinosaur Cupcakes (she claims it was the purple icing and i quote – “that was the only reason”) and decided to make them for cell tonite (church, not terrorist) and so she did – the actual cupcakes were green in hue and she was not mightily impressed and we were also one cupcake holder paper cup vibe short of the twelve they [...]
just finished reading a chapter in shane claiborne’s latest ‘Follow Me To Freedom’ – leading and following as an ordinary radical and just so encouraged and challenged by some of the stories he shares of how some people he knows get creative with their talent or vocational training and end up changing or shaping a neighbourhood – i remember one story from ‘The Irresistible Revolution’ where he spoke of some people who had a water [...]
so recently my wife - the beautiful Val (because clearly) – was on a camp where we had been asked to speak (actually first time the invitation came to us as a couple) and someone was chatting to her and said something along the lines of ‘so are you the tagalong?’ – hm, strangely that person still lives today, but ja Val was not super amped and looking back at that camp, if you had [...]