SHUTUP AND LISTEN

Well, according to Google Maps I have driven 1866kms in the last week. For your average truckie, this would be the equivalent of a trip to the corner store, but living as I do on the insular peninsula, 1866kms is a long way. I certainly don't remember the last time I drove any long distance on my own. It was I suggest to you an event of sheer bloggable proportions!

My 6 days retreat was a combination of some wonderful catchups with some fantastic people, most of whom I haven't seen in decades, and some extended personal time behind the wheel of the car. Normally I would put the radio on, instead I discovered Christian podcasts.

I have had my head in the Old Testament of late and the number one theme coming through is "covenant". So, I went onto itunes before I left Sydney and did a search on podcasts on the topic. There were dozens of talks on covenant, mainly Sunday sermons from a wide range of churches. So with reckless abandon (after all, they are 'free'), I downloaded a bunch of them and listened to them over 24 hours of driving, with 2 hourly breaks to 'inwardly digest' and 'act upon' (tongue firmly in cheek).

Let's see...there was A.Boyd Miller the IV from the Covenant Presbyterian Church, Rev John Shearouse from the Covenant Reformed Church, Doyle R. Adams Sr from the Elizabeth Baptist Church, Steve Jones from the Evangelical Covenant Church, Dr Derek Thomas from the First Presbyterian Church, David Pawson speaking at the Hitchin Christian Centre, an un-named pastor from the Maze Presbyterian Church, Joshua Vander Klok from the Resurrection Life Church and Dr Fred ReRuvo from Study-Grow-Know Ministries.

If you want to know if I can recommend any of these...Yes! Steve Jones - brilliant.

But as you know any old Pastor Tom, Dick or Harry can create a podcast and stick it on iTunes, and the sheer number of audio talks, like the voluminous amount of e-articles on the net, are overwhelming in the extreme. As it turned out, these talks weren't too bad and I actually enjoyed listening to a range of theological perspectives on the theme of covenant, ranging from "we were born to be blessed and prosperous brothers and sisters" to "God has chosen you as his elect in covenant and there is nothing you can do about it". I also enjoyed listening to a range of preaching styles, being thoroughly bored by some and highly engaged by others. There are some seriously good preacher/teachers out there in the universe.

In the last 5 hours I was feeling a bit sleepy and I discovered the cure for fatigue at the wheel - LISTEN TO JOHN SMITH. In fact I think the roads safety campaign people should put the weblink to his talks on signage around the country. You simply cannot fall asleep listening to John Smith! For those of you who don't know Smithy, he got the God's Squad christian motorcycle club started up in Australia and it now has chapters throughout the world. He came to Christ in the Jesus Movement in the late 60s and has had a huge impact around the country. Having first heard him at the Australian Christian Music Seminars in 1984, I later had the privilege of leading his mission to Armidale and got to know him better at that time. John, now 70 years of age is a true prophet with an unquenchable fire in his bones.

So where am I going? I don't know really, it's only a blog, am I supposed to have a point?

My point would be this - In the last 15 years I have been either too proud or too busy to be blessed by the insights and teachings of other preachers and teachers. I still prefer the idea of reading the Bible more than other books and I still prefer listening to the Bible rather than mans interpretations - but at the end of the day, God has gifted men and women to expound the word and build the Church and I am the poorer for not giving at least some time in each week to being encouraged and taught beyond my own small world. I guess I'm making up for lost time. How far to Perth???

From the Abbey, part 2

My call to ministry back in the early 80s was very clear. I had been a Christian probably twelve months or so and through several encounters, each only days or weeks apart, God spoke the very same scripture to me. It was the familiar passage from Isaiah 61, repeated by Jesus in Luke 4:18-19

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

I remember saying back to God at the time, 'But Lord, isn't this the ministry of Jesus? Isn't it presumptuous to be claiming a passage like that as applying to myself??' His response at the time into my spirit was clear and simple: 'As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.'

As I've grown in my understanding of God's word and the place of the Spirit in the life of the Church I have come to see that this passage not only applies to Jesus, but to the disciples he called to himself, and the Church as a whole. We are all called to do the works of Jesus in the power of the Spirit. But for me personally, it has become a very special passage of Scripture and one that has framed my ministry as an evangelist, as a pastor, and as someone who has stood alongside the persecuted and oppressed. I love the whole notion of liberation and seeing people brought into the freedom God has for them, in whatever form that might take. It has become my personal mission statement.

In the last couple of weeks I have thought more about the last verse: 'to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.' The notes in my bible say,

"The year of the Lord’s favor (Grk “the acceptable year of the Lord”) is a description of the year of Jubilee (Lev 25:10). The year of the total forgiveness of debt is now turned into a metaphor for salvation. Jesus had come to proclaim that God was ready to forgive sin totally."

The Year of Jubilee was instituted by the Lord in the book of Leviticus, which I was reading on retreat two weeks ago in Berrima:

"Count off seven sabbaths of years. Count off seven times seven years. The seven sabbaths of years add up to a total of 49 years. The tenth day of the seventh month is the day when sin is paid for. On that day blow the trumpet all through your land. Set the 50th year apart. Announce freedom all over the land to everyone who lives there. The 50th year will be a Year of Jubilee for you."

Now, because I'm a bit slow - God likes to tell me the same thing 3 or 4 times in different ways. So on Wednesday, I was reading this great book on Jesus, and the author's talking about this passage in Luke 4 and he says 'Jesus was proclaiming the great Jublilee of God. By ancient tradition every 49 years the Year of Jubilee was to be declared in Israel...according to some experts, this text (originally from Isaiah) was prescribed for reading in the synagogues at the beginning of the Year of Jubilee). Ok, interesting.

Then...I have dinner last night, and after dinner I go into the little chapel here. No real reason. I wasn't planning to pray, just have a look. I found my eyes drawn towards a small poster hanging on the wall (see pic). It is entitled, 'Australian Jesuits - Call to Mission' - and you know what it says don't you? 'The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for the Lord has anointed me...to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.' from Luke 4.

So here I am - by "chance" in a Jesuit retreat centre having my Luke 4 call renewed. But that's not all!!

You will not believe what tomorrow is?? My birthday. How old am I? You guessed it! 7 times 7 = 49. I will be in my own personal jubilee, my 50th year - the year of the Lord's favour - the same year in which I strangely decided (not thinking at the time) that I needed to have a BIG REST! Ok, I go back to work Aug 1 - but you get the picture, right?

So....I can only assume from this that God is saying, 'Ian Happy Birthday - this is your year of Jubilee - enjoy your rest - and receive my Spirit, that you might bring freedom and liberty to others.'

Oh yeah, then this morning the prayer exercise that I had been given was from John 20, 'as the Father has sent me, so I send you...Receive the Holy Spirit'.

From the Abbey, Part 1

Well, it's not an abbey really - in fact it's not an abbey at all - but it's the closest I've come to staying in an abbey, so an abbey it shall be. It's actually called Peter Canisius House and it is a Jesuit retreat centre following the way of Ignatius. My first impression was Jesus is everywhere! As in, statues, icons and paintings. But the longer I've stayed here (end of second day now) the more I feel he really IS here.

I am now into my 8th week of retreats (I think) and this is very different from all the others. For a start, it is a 'guided retreat' meaning that I have been appointed a 'spiritual director' - lovely Father Des, who is 70 plus (but NOT an old man dad, as we all know 70+ is not old). Speaking of old, I had a lovely chat with a very old Jesuit who was on retreat, up from Melbourne. He was 90 plus and shuffling along the corridors and very happy to see me and have a yarn. 'Ooo, house churches' he said, when I told him what I do. "Very apostolic work. Yes, very apostolic". So, yes I have a spiritual director who I meet with and he gives me various prayer exercises to do and has also given me a book to read by a Spanish priest writing about the humanity of Jesus. On all the other retreats I've done, I've kind of made it up as I've gone along - with reasonable affect - but it has been wonderful being 'guided'.

It's also different this week in that I am having a "no music" and "no study" retreat policy. I normally make time for both of these activities, but felt this time that I needed to concentrate on the process of renewal as guided by another rather than some of what I would normally do.

It's also different in that I have wireless internet and for the first time can send my blog 'on location'. Also means I've been tempted to check email a few times, but as there's rarely anything in my inbox these days that hasn't been too bad.

So what's happening? Well - for me its a time to love God with all my Heart and soul and to rediscover his love for me. I don't find it hard to love God with 'all my mind' nor do I find it hard to love him with all 'my strength' but retreats like this involve meditating, contemplating, imagining, and feeling which are all things, which while not altogether strange to me, are not my personal habit. St Ignatius was a very spiritual man and the community around him became known as the Jesuits. They are passionate about knowing and experiencing God's love and expressing it in acts of justice, so the general thrust of the exercises one is given on a retreat like this are intended to renew you in God's love - which is certainly happening.

There are only 4 of us on retreat here at the moment, so it's very quiet and generally you are expected to be silent, but the old man wanted to talk so I did. There is a Baptist pastor here on a 3 day retreat (like me) and there is another fellow half way through a 30 day retreat, which keeps me humble, I must say.

More tomorrow :)

Audio Bible Paraphrase added to blog!

If you've been following my blog, you would know that one of the things I've been doing since the middle of last year is paraphrasing Paul's letters in the New Testament - not because I thought current translations were deficient or that 'The Message' needed some improvements - but because I just wanted to have a go at putting Paul's letters in my own words. 'How would I say that if I was writing it to my church?' was the approach I was taking. I've tried to not say anything that's not in the original text but I have injected my own interpretation from time to time. So please have a listen. You can download the tracks and via the application I'm using you can share them over facebook or with others. At present I've only recorded Galatians through to Colossians. Romans and 1 Thess are also done, but still need to recorded. There's speculation over whether Hebrews is or isn't written by Paul, but I'd like to do that letter as well. I'd love you to listen and give me your thoughts.

Ian