Sing to God (Psalm 96) WHO’D BE A TEACHER? My wife is an English teacher at an independent Christian school in a beachside location south of Sydney (where I also was teaching for some time.) Along with other staff, she is allocated a day to give a brief morning devotion. These are important times as they set the tone for a busy day amongst all the dramas and issues that involve a thousand students many of whom do not profess faith. As a former teacher with many years of experience, I know how quickly one can be wrapped up in the minutiae of planning and delivery of lessons, of marking and dealing with the needs of hundreds of children in a day and then getting to repeat this all over again, day by day. It is an exhausting profession, mentally and physically and yet a very rewarding one – when things go right (which is not always the case.) For most people, work life is like that, particularly if they have a tribe of kids (to borrow the Australian vernacular.) In my case, for too many years I let this become all-consuming, an 18 hour-a-day job which took precedence over everything else. To be honest, it was hard not too, given the demands that were made upon my time and for success when parents were paying for this. I was far from alone in my work habits. For many Christians, this will be a feeling with which they are all too familiar and it doesn’t just come from full-time, paid employment. Often the demands of friends or family, volunteering or a close person in need overwhelm with demands for sustained thought and interactions, leaving little time for self.   JESUS: A WORKAHOLIC? Jesus wasn’t in paid employment – he might be considered part of the non-profit volunteer movement today but He certainly worked an 80-hour week, all without superannuation, annual holidays, sick leave or medical. In the press of constant demands, He would slip away to be by Himself and God. At these times, I can well imagine that the concepts of Psalm 96 (which He would have known well and in fact most likely could recite from memory) would have been one of His starting points. These are the times and the ways in which we also reorient ourselves on God. As Christians, our value system is derived from God: the way we see the world and others is formed from God’s attitudes and there is no end of help when we read Bible authors and reform our world view from them.   PSALM 96: SEE THE WORLD A NEW WAY In Psalm 96, King David affirms some really helpful values. Very specifically, he tells us that the only supernatural power which has any credence is God. The other gods are actually idols, objects that have less life than we do. We are given a special role to tell the world about God’s deeds and these are of such magnificence that we can’t but praise God while we list them. In fact, so overwhelming is God that that every part of the natural world resounds in praise to Him; the one who is qualified to be the only true judge of the earth and everything that is in it. What is remarkable is how prophetic this psalm is. It speaks of God giving salvation and the need for God’s nation to tell the world, a millennia before Jesus will die on the cross and apostles and deacons will be given the task of taking this message to the gentiles (and we in turn take it to the rest of the school – or the world.) This is why a Christian school has a morning devotion: so all staff have a time – even if just a few moments – to reorient their values with God’s values; God’s ways, so that in the day to come they can respond in God’s way to all that happens: all the thousand little crises that occur. A reorientation sees all students as still being a child of God’s image, despite their flaws and their strengths and allows us to realise that good humour and friendliness may take precedence at times over the need to get through the content; that compassion and love allow us to see the value of fair and consistent discipline structures (which they really do want even if they kick against the traces) and that above all, that building a trusting relationship lays a platform for them to see that we are declaring God’s ways day to day as the Psalmist call us to.   Technical Notes Psalm 96 was written by King David of Israel around 1000 B.C. This translation is by the composer and is performed by Dan Marko with backing vocals by Kim Chandler. The song is arranged and produced by Turn Around Music Studio at Taree. The clip images are by Jon Seccombe and Vaughn MacDonald. Dan is also the graphic artist for the image above & the album covers.

Jesus – society’s growing swear word                                   “How Sweet the Name of Jesus” (John Newton)   Blasphemy. To show a wicked lack of respect towards God or divine things. To speak, showing irreverence to the person of Jesus of God, YHWY. It is curious that this word, blasphemy, is hardly known in contemporary society. Perhaps one person in twenty on the street could tell you what it means, yet at the same time as people walk up the street in my community I hear them swearing, using Jesus’ name, drifting in through my window. My attention was drawn to this issue some years ago when the editor of a major Australian newspaper started off his article using Jesus’ name as a swear word. When I wrote to him to complain that this was offensive to Christians, he told me that society found it acceptable and I needed to get with the program and just accept it. It certainly is prevalent. Watch T.V. for an evening – especially reality T.V. and you will hear “Jesus Christ,” spat out regularly and even with viciousness for the most trivial of issues. It’s almost as though the user bears a personal animosity towards Jesus for something He has done wrong. Then there is the famous Italian-American actor who has a food tour series from Italy. Each time he takes a mouthful of particularly nice food, Jesus’ name will be his epithet of praise – yet one has the sense that he is not really grateful to Jesus for what he has consumed in any real way. The phrase just serves as a sort of punctuation. The believer can either become used to ignoring blasphemy or it comes is sensitized to the point where they wince every time they hear this denigration of Jesus. I am also curious as to why Jesus’ name – and no ‘gods’ from other religions (from what I can see) are used as a swear word. I have even heard people from other religions cursing with Jesus’ name. Even the school children I realised that I had to confront the problem when students in my class were regularly using this word and two of the books that I was given to teach had the sustained use of Jesus’ name as a swear word. In one case, a famous Australian comedian used this word in his biography. It was a period in his life when he was heading south to see his father who had walked out on the family many years before without explanation. As he drove, his eyes filled with tears and he cursed with Jesus’ name. For him, there was deep emotional pain. Some might excuse this and say the situation demanded swearing. However, this would be a mistake. The Bible tells of a coming time when all will answer to God and come to understand that through Jesus all things were made. At that time all people will realise that Jesus’ name is the greatest and most important name there has ever been. At this time they will bow and – in the correct New Testament sense of the word, worship, that is, acknowledging that He is Lord of the universe and the billions of galaxies it contains. However, swearing does seem natural to humans and many today might even the point the finger at the Bible and its use of language – or even at the Old Testament’s sanctioning of capital punishment for those who use YWHY’s name without respect. So much better they say, that we tolerate a mistake than the drastic step of enforcing the commands of a judgemental God. Monty Python’s spoof certainly made the latter point in a humorous way and pointed out the double standards of those who are protectors of the purity of God’s name but lack love. And certainly, Jesus condemned the pharisees for their failure to respect God properly. Their blasphemy is seen in the crucifixion of Jesus. Despite the fact they seemed to cry, blasphemy’ each time Jesus opened His mouth in their hearing.   When the Bible Uses Strong language In addition, some might be surprised that the Bible uses strong language. Paul describes in graphic terms his experiences when he says that he was born unnaturally and out of time. In the Greek he says, “I am a real abortion of an apostle.” 1Cor15:8 He writes with fierceness for a reason though. When he sees that people are downplaying the sacrifice of Jesus and trying to add additional requirements to what has been done for us by God – downplaying the most essential aspect of forgiveness that Jesus alone can save, Paul opposes this with language that might make the most hardened politician blanch and for good reason. Paul says that if people think that that circumcision is necessary for salvation they should castrate themselves (Gal1:5) and that any human attempt to find favour with God on our terms is nothing but excrement (σκύβαλον). Isaiah 64:6, echoes this in saying ‘our righteousness is as menstrual rags.’ These writers do so with the backing of God. The language they use is appropriate because death and salvation from it through Jesus is the most important thing in the world. They want their readers to understand in no uncertain terms how vital their message is.   Blasphemy – an opportunity to explain Jesus But where the devil has turned the name of Jesus into a swear as a strategy to undermine Jesus and demean Him, there exists an opportunity for Christians to reach out and not just with annoyance. With my students, I stopped the regular lesson and explored the idea of who Jesus was, first outlining that He was an historical person. I followed by asking them to consider that if they were given a gift by a family member whether they would then then treat this person rudely by turning

When I was young I lived on a farm. In that district there was a well dressed man who had a smaller holding. He watched all the TV programs, read all the magazines and followed them assiduously. He worked on the soil of his farm and he watched the rains come and invigorate the soil. He purchased the best fertiliser and bought the most expensive brand-new Massey tractor one could with which he worked the soil and its additives all over until it was black and gleaming. That ground was full of earth worms and manure; friable and solid yet crumbly. It was the best soil for miles around and all the other farmers nodded wisely and said, ‘he’s spent so much money on that soil, he’d better get the best crop anyone’s ever had here if he’s going to make any profit.’   The time came to harvest and all the farmers made a reasonable living from their sales. The season had been a fair one – rain at the right time and sunshine when needed. The well-dressed man never made a cent though. Despite all his hard work, he had never put a crop in – he hadn’t put the seed in. While other farmers had put theirs in during autumn and nervously watched the skies, that farmer had been off elsewhere on an expensive holiday, secure in the knowledge that he had the best soil in the district and in all the time and effort he’d spent developing the best soil.   If this sounds like a fable – a fiction; it is. Although I did grow up on a farm, I have never heard of a farmer preparing soil in good times, getting everything ready and then never bothering to grow crops. The story is plainly ridiculous.   God is NOT like the well-dressed farmer and we see this in the New Testament in Acts in the opening chapters about Pentecost, the establishment of the church. We have four superb gospels which give us the most wonderful account of Jesus coming and dying for us and then, in evidence that completely confounds all the critics of His life, rising from the dead and visiting so many of His followers.   But this is only the first stage. God doesn’t expend all of His riches and value in the death of His son, Jesus, to procrastinate like my fictional farmer who tilled only the soil. This is Jesus’ action with a purpose and we see the second stage, the outworking of this in the harvest of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit, 50 days after Christmas.   I love the history recorded in Acts. Its author, the gentile physician, Luke, states that he is writing to his friend, Theophilus but I think he knows that his account will surely have a much wider audience. Acts is so carefully and methodically researched and has all the hallmarks of a history where the writer is present for some of the events and has carefully tested the evidence for accuracy when he wasn’t there at the other times. I think Luke sees the significance of what he is writing and so wants everyone to see the sublime actions of God, who has provided salvation but now plants the crop and sees the greatest harvest of all time as His word spreads like a bushfire across the Mediterranean world and for the first time to non-Jewish people. Having four gospels about Jesus is glorious! I secretly wish though we had more than one book of Acts and Luke had written so much more about the spread of the gospel because this news is so exciting and the events are simply astonishing! (As John says ‘the whole world couldn’t hold all the things about Jesus.’)   Tens of thousands of people become Christians! Now the apostles are raising people from the dead, (Acts 9) healing the blind and the paralysed (Acts 8); blinding and binding false prophets (Acts13); and God Himself appears in blinding light to convert Saul, the enemy of Jesus. (Acts9) Likewise the Holy Spirit commands evangelists where to travel and gives visions, ensuring that they speak in just the right way to their audience who immediately follow in obedience with changed lives (Acts8). All sorts of miracles are taking place, and some of them quite strange. On the day of Pentecost, suddenly people who have never known a foreigner’s language can speak fluently in it! What a reversal of God’s punishment when he condemns humanity at the Tower of Babel to lose all ability to communicate with each other in Genesis. Now the curse is replaced with a blessing! To cap all this, God gives permission for you and I, (represented by Cornelius) to become Christians and receive Him. (Acts10)   This is the best farmer ever! He has not neglected to plant the seed and He is carefully tending every aspect of the crop – each day in the fields, directing every aspect of the growth through the Holy Spirit. He is the God beyond the universe, yet He is completely consumed in our best interests. This is our God diligently at work and we can learn so much from close study of Acts, particularly in how the enemy (who must be driven to distraction) seeks to subvert what is happening. He drives some to oppose. In Acts 16, two apostles are beaten so severely it takes days for them to recover. Most concerning is undermining from followers: Simon the Magician (Acts 12) claims to follow Jesus when he sees the overwhelming power of the apostles yet then tries to purchase this gift from Peter who is horrified at his request. Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) undermine the unity of the church with their lies and deceit and are rooted out by God. In our day the Evil one is as active as ever, seeking to blot out every little fire where the gospel takes

Jesus told a parable which makes little sense if you live in Australia, Europe or America (or most of Asia for that matter.)   It concerns an idiot and another man with far more common sense. The former built his house on sandy ground and the latter constructed his upon a foundation of rock.   In a school that I worked in most recently, most of the buildings were on rock – and they cost a fortune to excavate. In Australia, most people prefer earth and clay to build on as it’s a good deal cheaper to put in their concrete foundation, (known as the footings) and houses built in this way are quite secure.   When I was a child and first heard this parable and heard a simple children’s song associated with it, I pictured our local beach where I had spent many a holiday with a house on it and the waves crashing down. I knew then of course that the tide came in and no one with any sense would expose their building to the ocean.   What I had no knowledge of was the land of Palestine where Jesus grew up. Later as an Ancient History teacher, I came to realise that Jesus’ land was far different from mine (and much more similar to nearby Egypt for that matter.) Here was a place where one quarter of the precipitation came from the overnight dew. In other words, it would be a land of desert except for the rivers that flowed through (creating the ‘land of milk and honey’.)   Palestine for the most part is a land of rock and crumbled rock – what we call the desert sand. In this situation, people build houses wherever it pleases them and the foundations might not be deep or even a major consideration, particularly if it is a small cottage with only a small number of rooms.   As a teacher I have studied and taught about some of these earliest houses in Egypt. In Deir el Medina (where the craftsmen who built and fitted out the Pharaohs’ tombs lived) there is an excellent archaeological example of what Jesus spoke about. Many of these buildings had no more than four small rooms and my lounge room could easily have fitted one or 2 of the dwellings found there. The houses were built with common walls and most importantly, they were built on a sandy location. The floor was lower than surrounding land; the foundations of the walls were stone but the rest was mud brick, baked by the sun. Cooking and cleaning was primitive by our standards.   To the untrained eye, in this location there is little to pick between rocky-sand and sandy-rock. And in Deir-el-Medina there was nowhere else to build. (The Pharaoh’s tombs were carved into rock face which took up to 20 painstaking years to hollow out.) The reality was that here was a desert landscape and rain was not expected. Their water needs were supplied by the river.   If you have travelled to Pompeii in Italy, by comparison, the houses are far grander. They are of timber, brick and stone and have tiles for flooring, internal courtyards and even pleasant gardens in the grander ones.   But these were not the houses that Jesus was familiar with. He speaks to a Galilean audience who knew the tiny villages of mud-brick more similar to Egypt and not the grander houses associated with Rome or even of the Greeks.   Jesus tells his listeners something they know well: that you can build a mud brick house in a poor location and survive for quite a few years before you see a decent fall of rain. For quite a time there is no difference between these two builders in His story: the idiot is not revealed until years have gone by and the disaster comes. His point is a basic one to those who listened as he spoke, perhaps standing near some of these houses. Choose wisely whom you follow and what you believe. The difference may not be clear now but on the day of eternal judgement, those who have chosen wisely to build their life in Christ will be revealed for all to see.   I wrote this song for my school and my tutor group chapel band (the same school which was, ironically, quite unwisely built on rock which was prohibitively expensive.) I wanted them to sing enthusiastically about Jesus and then consider why He told this strange story about a building’s foundations. My hope was that my students would come to understand the long- term view, that a life can be built on Jesus and that although no major catastrophe might occur now, over a long period of time, the wisdom of a secure foundation in Jesus will become apparent when the tempests of this life arrive – whether that is sooner or later.

All My Desire   A few days ago, a very elderly man passed away. His name was Peter and he was 97. You will probably never have heard of him as he mostly worked in a country called the Yemen although he was Australian.   The thing about God’s saints is that when they pass from the world they often do so unnoticed. What our world considers important is very different from God’s considerations.   As a young man raised by his brother (as his father had died) Peter had gone to the oldest of the most prestigious schools in Australia and had been so successful that on graduation had gone to England to study literature at Oxford University.   But this did not eventuate. On arriving on England’s shores he had heard the news of the gospel of Christ, had become a Christian and had gone out to the Middle East as a missionary. There he met Margaret, a nurse who very much matched him in character and eminent qualities and they were married for many years.   We were remarkably blessed to have known him: on his return to Australia, he became a part of our house church. I often felt that it was like having one of Jesus’ disciples talking to us when he spoke, such was the profound depth of his relationship with God, accompanied with a knowledge of Scripture which was the equal of a Matthew Henry or an Alfred Edersheim (and as a side note, although they wrote centuries ago, their work is always worth the reading – especially Edersheim’s volume, Elisha.)   Why do I speak so much about this man? Well it is 40 years since I first heard him speak and I can still remember what he spoke about as can others who were present. I once calculated that I have sat through over 4000 sermons and many more since then. I remember none in detail – except Peter’s (although many were very good and worthy, including those of Billy Graham!) In fact, the only sermon of his that I don’t seem to recall well was the one he gave at my wedding:) – maybe I was distracted. As we reflected on this during the week, at least 2 others could remember individual sermons he gave and the passage of Scripture that he preached from. When Peter spoke, we listened to great wisdom.   We asked him on one occasion what it was like to mission in a country renowned for its hard-line adherence to a different faith. He smiled gently and said that he was one day driving along in the country side where all was cliffs and sand (think of the desert scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark) when he saw a wild flower high up on the cliffs all by itself. That was the nature of Christianity in that country. Where least expected, the wild flowers grew. When human structures would seem to completely mitigate against any possibility of Christian witness, God was entirely capable of making and growing a church – like the wildflower – in what seemed the most inhospitable of ground.   More recently I asked Peter how he could communicate the Bible when it was such a dangerous thing to do. He told me that he was sitting in a taxi and the driver turned to him and asked for a Bible. Peter gave him a Bible that he had ready, explaining it to me such that it seemed the most natural thing in the world for someone to do. I have been to a lot of countries and in my reality, no one has ever asked me for a copy of the scriptures in a language they could speak! The wisdom of this world would caution against carrying Bibles in a country that imprisons for this sort of activity but that is not God’s wisdom. This was the nature of Peter and Margaret’s ministry. They simply made themselves available and the Spirit did the rest, making Christians in a country where the consequences for proselytization and conversion were extreme. Later in life they returned year after year to visit those who had become their brothers and sisters, well into the time when this country had become one of the bleakest places of warfare on the planet.   Under his wisdom I think it was that I first really began to understand the Psalms and to realise how it was that David wrestled with his doubts in coming to God. As we wiped the dishes with tea towels after morning tea, I asked Peter (in my ignorance) why he had not become a minister, to which he replied (always with the hint of humour just below the surface) that he’d ‘rather be a man with the cloth than of the cloth.’ This was the humble servant in our midst, who could read complex volumes by Calvin and other theologians and who any Bible College on earth would have employed in a heartbeat I’m sure. While he was a man of outstanding intellect, that was never the impression that one took away – for myself and others we always came away having learnt something new about God and a deep awe for his boundless love.   Ours is a God who is brighter than 10,000 suns but from whom people cowered in the Old Testament. When Moses came down from Mt Sinai and the presence of God, the reflection of God’s glory alone was enough to require Moses to cover his face. Yet if we were to trust Him, we could be immediately with God (and to my mind, Peter and Margaret, who spent so much time in the presence of God also reflected God’s radiance but somewhat differently to Moses they reflected His character.) Such joy to know that now God doesn’t require special liturgies or ceremonies to be in His presence. He just requires us to come!   Peter understood and

War is a dreadful thing and a horror for all involved, including the civilians who are swallowed up in it.   Much of my working life has been caught up in studying and teaching about war and such is its influence on the development of Australia, that our governments insist that past conflicts must be a key part of the studies of all students. The prominent Australian historian, Geoffrey Blayney corrected the common perception when he wrote that ‘it is not that war breaks out, rather that peace breaks out.’ He was right: war is the natural state of human kind rather than peace. In the last 125 years, Australia has been at war for at least 50 of those years although many would consider ourselves a peaceful nation.   My family, like most, has been affected by war even though we live in a far-off land, removed from the conflict that so besets others. My grandfather was there on that first ANZAC day in the Great War as a sailor in the merchant navy, rowing the man ashore at Gallipoli on the 25th of April. He remembered a soldier jumping ashore saying, ‘this’ll be jam.’ History shows us that it was anything but. He returned 8 months later when they took the remaining soldiers off in his ship. An officer in the spirit of mateship said, ‘take him first, he’s worse off than me,’ and in the time it took my grandpa to ease the private on board, the injured officer slipped quietly into the sea, never to be seen again by my grandfather or any of his relatives.   My father once asked of his uncle who served in the same war, ‘what did you learn?’ to receive the tart reply, ‘I learned to smoke now go away and don’t bother me again.’ The impact on those who served was tremendous, yet often less explored was the impact on those who were on the Home Front. My grandmother carried a picture of a soldier in uniform and 50 years later she made a detour with my father on the battlefield graves of Europe to see the man she never forgot. I wonder what my father thought about this man who could have replaced his own father, William. In a strange twist of fate, William himself had only been saved from the terrible tragedy of the trenches by a severe bout of sickness as he lay over in Egypt, preparing to travel to Gallipoli. Instead, he was forced home to Australia, despite his strong resolution to fight, where he would meet my grieving grandmother and marry her some 10 years later.   And somewhere in Belgium in the mud lies a young man who should have raised my mother. He was killed in the last month of the war and was not there when his sister died of a stroke some years later, leaving my mother (his only niece) a year-old baby, to be raised by strangers.   As we watch the news today, we see war in so many zones around the world: with hundreds of soldiers dying each day and thousands more civilians suffering death and life changing losses.   King David of Israel knew all about war. He was a killer, a seasoned warrior who had fought many battles for Israel and many lay dead at his hands. So full of blood were they that God forbade him building the temple of Jerusalem because of this ‘blood on his hands.’ That honour would instead to his son, Solomon. Yet, ironically, he was obedient to God when directed to war.   David knew the fear of hiding from enemies who would kill him and of going up against insurmountable odds. Throughout his long life, he would never be free from war. From facing the giant of the Philistine armies, Goliath, when he was a young teenager, to his own king seeking his life and forcing David to become a refugee and then even as an old man, having his son, Adonijah, attempt to supplant him, conflict was ever present.   David knew the hideous price that was to be paid in war, including battle against his own son, Absalom, who had previously usurped his throne. When Absalom was overthrown and slain by a soldier with a vendetta, David was beside himself with grief that his son, whom he loved more than life, was dead in battle.   We have a particular insight into David’s experiences: so many of these are found in the Psalms and we see the necessity of his actions. His enemies are God’s enemies and they can only be stopped by force. He follows God’s instructions in going to war. At times he is overwhelmed and he calls on God to save him when he is incapable of doing so and his very survival depends on God’s mercies. All of David’s emotions are laid bare to us as he stands, vulnerable before God and entirely dependent upon His mercies. In this selection of the Psalms we see David, famously walking through the ‘valley of the shadow of death’. But we also see his desire for a better world; to ‘dwell in the courts of the almighty’ and to live in a place which is free of conflict, safe in the peace and comfort that the Almighty provides. In David’s psalms we see a foretaste of the greatest conflict of all, when one of his descendants is executed by the Roman army and goes up against the evil one, knowing the greatest anguish of all as he dies for the sins of His people.   On this, our National Day of Commemoration, we wish that our studies could all be about peace but I know that this will never be the case until Revelation 21 is realised and one king rules over all and all nations come under Him.

My family was not a wealthy one. Both my parents worked and their income was at the lower end of the middle class and there was never much to spend on luxuries after the mortgage was paid. They made an interesting choice though: I had shown some musical ability so they took the decision to send me to a choir school. Whilst I received a partial scholarship, there was still considerable sacrifice: each term my mother would have to give up a fortnight’s wages to pay the fees. My siblings also showed considerable graciousness with this decision and I never heard a grumble of indignation, rather I think any successes I had were ones they shared in.   I remember my mother again sacrificing to purchase a trumpet for me in Year 7 and my 80 year-old piano teacher in the 1970s also doing so when she took payment of $1 an hour for my tuition, every cent of which she gave to Baptist missionaries.   There is a quality of giving where the person who does so hopes that the sacrifice they make will be of benefit – but they often never know. I don’t know if I’ve ever really mentioned to my mother the many instances where I have played the Last Post on trumpet for various community memorial ceremonies though it has been a regular practice multiple times each year over the last 40 years. She is probably completely unaware of the many times I have played trumpet in church services. My piano teacher passed shortly after teaching me and never saw the significance of her work. However, she did practice 6 hours a day when she was young on piano and violin. I would hazard a guess that she was very much praying that her time had not been wasted on this young boy who was inclined to turn up each week with another excuse for not having practised. I’d like to think her sacrifice and that of my mother reaped reward though they never saw the outcome.   How many times have people given and sacrificed through History, never to find out whether any good came from it?   This is the thing about sacrifice: if there is no God, then any sacrifice for the gospel would be a foolish waste of money, particularly because there is no certainty of this ‘investment’ paying off. However, we proclaim that there is a God and at the very centre of His planning is self-sacrifice for the benefit of others – even though many never take this up and even though we ourselves may never live to see the outcome. The great man of answered prayer, George Mueller, famously sacrificed time to pray for 5 people throughout his life. All became Christians – although 2 were after his death so he never saw the answer – although I have no doubt he was certain it would happen.   Some of these sacrifices involve a lot more than music lessons or educational tuition and can be huge. The man who preached at my wedding had been educated at one of Sydney’s top private schools. When he left, he intended to study at Oxford University but became a Christian on reaching England’s shores and immediately set off for the mission field instead. He started out with a great inheritance but devoted every cent of it to God’s service along the way, burying two of his children and his wife (also a very godly woman.) I first met him in our house church and when he spoke, we all listened intensely: it was as if we had one of the apostles speaking to us such was the depth of his insight and the depth of his Christian experience. He was a man who had given everything to God. Today, 40 years later I can still remember parts of his sermons. This is surely a pattern of the Christian experience: the more we give over to God, the more God gives to us and the closer we come to Him.   This is in complete antithesis to the ways of the world: moments ago in the media I saw one of Australia’s greatest sporting heroes pushing gambling at children (supported by a few other sporting luminaries.) He will be well paid for this but I guarantee out there will be a child who will become hooked and enter a life time of destruction. What a comparison! In revelation 21, the apostle, John, makes a list of what (and who) we won’t encounter in heaven. I have the suspicion that there won’t be gambling and I’d be surprised if there was any money involved – and the streets of gold are there for aesthetic reasons, not capitalist ones. The heaven that has been prepared for us is one where we willingly give and the Spirit that drives sacrifice will see complete fulfillment. We won’t be storing up riches for ourselves but we will be building and doing wonderful things that enrich others.   The brings me to this song, “Jesus, Redeemer.” Who is the original author of the idea of sacrifice? Who plants it in the heart of a parent to give up so much for their children? Or for a person to give up all of their worldly riches for complete strangers? Or to be prepared to even give over their children and loved ones to God, as Abraham did, in complete obedience? Or for God who spent so much time and effort to make our cosmos? This song speaks of the greatest of all sacrifices in the light of which every other human sacrifice pales by comparison: the sacrifice of God of His only son, Jesus, to obtain for us redemption to that very same heaven in the presence of God Himself.

Take My Heart – God’s Response to a Willing Vessel regardless of Cultural Norms. Jon Seccombe has written a prayerful hymn of consecration: ‘Take my Heart’.  ‘Take my Heart’ reinterprets the hymn, ‘Take My Life’ written by female evangelist, Frances Ridley Havergal in 1874.     Jon, an historian and New Testament scholar has researched the life and ministry of Frances Havergal as well as prominent New Testament women. In the following article, Jon brings insight into the often-underestimated role of women in ministry. We pray your heart is moved to a deeper level of consecration as you listen to this wonderful hymn and learn how God uses willing vessels regardless of cultural expectations.  https://youtu.be/dSSLn0OZO9Y (and with special thanks to Lee-Anne Byrne for her illustration of Francis) The year was 1874 and a dynamic and charismatic woman was setting out to run an evangelistic meeting with a local household….   The woman was Frances Ridley Havergal and she was both acting in the fullest capacity that her society allowed her at the time but she also exceeded this considerably as you will see. Sadly and to its loss, the role of women in early Christianity and their potential in church life has been frequently underestimated throughout the ages.   As a boy growing up in a conservative rural locale of the 1960s and then the suburbs in the 1970s, I was gobsmacked when the wife of the elderly pastor of our tiny Baptist church stood up to speak. Raised in Baptist churches from infancy, I could not once remember anyone but a male leading from the front, however, here was a lady and wow, was she dynamic. She was a deaconess and this was the beginning of a revelation as I came to see what a gender not my own could do and achieve. This was despite all my cultural experiences to date suggesting otherwise.   As I studied the scriptures more latterly, I grew to see that women did perform leading roles at times in the New Testament church. Some of these were surprising examples of leadership and one seems quite modern. In the middle of Acts, we meet Lydia, a businesswoman who has punched through the glass ceiling. She is involved in the textiles industry, specifically catering to very well-off customers who enjoy the status that wearing purple clothes brings them.   This Tyrian dye she procures is as difficult to make as today’s saffron, requiring careful techniques: up to 12,000 molluscs are needed for 1 gram of dye: the emperors themselves maintain exclusive rights to the trade. In today’s terms, her clients are equivalent to the wearers of Hermes and Louis Vuitton (certainly not the knock off variety) and Lydia herself possesses significant status and wealth being part of that trade. Although a gentile, (a non-Jew), she is a ‘God fearer’, one who has already accepted the fundamentals of Judaism and is clearly on a search for meaning in her life – perhaps having achieved so much already and yet not quite satisfied.   When Lydia meets Paul and Silas, she accepts the Christian message that they bear. The hand of God is at work here: He has been preparing to significantly extend His kingdom and in this case, He deliberately chooses a woman as a key part of this venture; one in whom He has planted a great yearning to know the Lord of the Universe. And God has his reasons for choosing her.   In a culture where it is regularly assumed that a male heads the household, it is Lydia who appears to be the head of this small community. She issues the invitation and presses the evangelists (the 4 men) – to stay in her house.  Luke, the writer of Acts, is also accommodated.   After her decision to become a follower of Christ and at her instigation, Lydia’s entire household then joins her in following the Lord and is baptised into the faith. The context shows that there would certainly have been quite a few people living in this large household – family and servants – and Lydia is most definitely the one who leads in this small community beneath her roof.   Sometime later, the Apostle Paul and Silas are illegally beaten by a mob in an act which is subsequently condoned by the Roman magistrates of Philippi. When they are imprisoned and released by God’s grace, it is Lydia who returns them to her house until have overcome the effects of the severe beating and are well enough to leave.   Elsewhere in his letter to the Romans, Paul commends Phoebe, a woman who is a deacon, when he writes to the Christians in Rome. Although the office of deacon is chosen initially in Acts to solve a financial issue, shortly afterwards we see one of these deacons, Stephen, preaching powerfully, leading to his unique position as the first Christian martyr. Another of the group of deacons selected in Acts 2, Philip, was also an evangelist whose ministry is attested through miracles and the direction of the Holy Spirit and who plays a key role in the extension of Christianity to non-Jewish people. A deacon, therefore, was not simply involved in housekeeping: Phoebe also has important work and Paul commends the church of Rome to give her all the assistance that she needs. (In fact she carries a copy of this important letter to the church in Rome on Paul’s behalf.) In short, God – through the Holy Spirit – has always included women in the mission to increase and mature the kingdom of believers. He has done so since the beginning of the church, with individuals such as Phoebe and continues through to this day.   And so, we come to our 1873 prayer meeting and Francis Ridley Havergal. Daughter of a minister and proud that she was named for the great English reformer and martyr, Nicholas Ridley, Frances was conversant in at least seven languages and read the

About Wind of God – Singing at the Queen’s Service in 1977 I’ve always admired Queen Elizabeth 2 of the United Kingdom. Technically she was my monarch until recently and despite all of the adverse criticism in the media, I have a lot of time for her family, the ones known as the ‘Working Royals.’ This might seem a little strange but I’m not making a statement about Royalty or Republicanism: the reason that I have time for them is that they are in many ways exactly the opposite of most royal families throughout human history, including nearly all the biblical ones. The reason I have admired Queen Elizabeth II goes back to the statement that she made on the death of her father in 1952. She pledged her life to serve others and she never stopped doing this. Even as cancer claimed her life 70 years later, she was still leaving her death bed to perform works of service. Her daughter, son and grandson have also shown a commitment to making the lives of others much better and to giving up their days and nights to do so. Certainly, they are humans with flaws and these have been exposed in a media which felt only the need to tell a story and never the consideration of how much hurt and harm such tales would bring. But then so too were King David and King Solomon, the two greatest kings described in the Old Testament. One was a murderer and the other allowed and tolerated the worship of false Gods. When we look at most of the monarchs of history, we see the same patterns of self-centred behaviour. The taxes of the people pay for rich clothes and fine living and the poor go hungry. Our modern times when these funds pay for education, roads and social security are unique but monarchs are known for extravagance, not for a servant attitude to the common folk. I had the fortune to sing for the Queen when I was a chorister in a cathedral choir in 1977. For years I had looked at the 2 special ‘thrones’ reserved for the Queen in the sanctuary (the fenced off area where the altar/ communion table was placed.) Interestingly though, this was not where the Queen and her husband, Prince Philip, were sitting during this Sunday Service in Sydney. The Queen, who always insisted that she would go to church whatever city she found herself in on a Sunday had also made it clear that she would be sitting in the congregation area with everyone else. And while one of her predecessors had declared that he was the Head of the Church of England, I think that the Queen had a very good understanding that Jesus was the Head of the church. As a regular bible reader, she was also quite aware of James’s statements that the rich were not to be given the best seat when the church gathered together (2:2-3) and the ‘rich should take pride in the humiliation.’ (1:10) So, our queen and her husband sat down with the congregation and we sang to her and the congregation rather than to an isolated person at the other end of the building – and the ‘thrones’ sat empty’ because in gathering of believers, all are of the same status: sinners before God and at the same time, the redeemed of the Lord who sing with great joy before God. This is the theme of the song, ‘Wind of God’. It exults in the Holy Spirit sweeping away all the powers of this world so that everyone shall acknowledge the only real monarch, Jesus Christ, and that ‘every knee should bow’ to Him and all will see that God has ‘placed all things in heaven and earth’ under His control. This song is, in that respect, a fervent prayer that God will bring all in our nation to voluntarily commit to Him and the  same Holy Spirit will sweep people to repentance.