a long day today

I could have predicted it from the names on the roll.

Dante and Memphis are two that stood out.

Many others I couldn't pronounce.

about blogging

Nicole is heading to Brisbane and speaking at a ministry wives conference on Friday.  She will be teaching us about sustaining our spiritual fervour.  I'm looking forward to hearing her and meeting her in person.

Because we both blog, we are getting interviewed together about the whole blogging thing.  We are getting asked about why we do it, how it's useful for our spiritual growth and what we perceive the dangers are.  I've been thinking about it a lot in the last couple of days, but haven't wanted to blog my thoughts yet.  (Which is why I've not been writing anything at all!)

My main question is this:  How responsible am I for what people do with what I write? 

A very minor example.  Just say I post a poem with a rude word in it.  People read this poem and it makes them do bad things, like:
a.) use the word inappropriately themselves ("Simone posted a poem with that word in so it must be okay for me to say it to my kids and grandma.")
b.) gossip to others about how bad I am for even typing such a word
c.) think I am just so way cool to have such an edgy and under-used word in my vocabulary and bow down and worship me...

Clearly, all of these are stupid ungodly reactions and if anyone actually did them then they would need a kick in the head a change of heart.  But, as a blogger, how much care should I take to ensure that I cause no-one to stumble?  The trouble with this medium is that what I write is available for everyone to read - so should I keep everything to a G rating just in case anyone under 14 stumbles across my blog?  Should I not put half formed ideas out there in case they turn out to be wrong and people pick them up and run with them without reading the meta in which they are shot down convincingly?  Should I not make cracks about my denomination in case people read and quote selectively and think I hate it - when I'm actually very thankful to God for it, committed to it, and fond of it too.  Should I not critique conservative ideas about womanhood, motherhood and women's ministry in case people think I do not agree with the bible's differentiation between men and women?  I could get around all this by being super careful in all I write and balance and measure everything ("of course, when I say x, I don't mean y and z, except in the instance of b or perhaps c..."), but I think I'd lose my readership pretty fast and my desire to write, too.   

So what do you think? 

How responsible am I for what people do with what I write? 

busy

I have so so much to do.  Kids talk to write for tomorrow (on Manasseh!), lunch to organise for tomorrow, house to tidy for guests tomorrow, Easter evangelistic talk to write (lazarus), conference bits and pieces to do, we are out tonight....

On top of this I have a whole list of things I am desperate to do:

• read my new poetry book
• listen to some beautiful choral music
• try to write some music for my new choir
• go for another bike ride with Andrew
• sit down at the piano with our new congregational song and try to work out why the chorus isn't working

The thing that makes it okay, is that all the things on my want-to list can wait, if necessary, until the new creation.  I will get to do them eventually!

Now, for some patience...

God Departs in 'Never Alone'

Quite a few people have been concerned about this.  Some considerably so.  Let me clear it up.

Hi ****,

Thanks for singing our song.  I hope it worked okay with your congregation.

Others have also questioned what that line means.  I think it is most clearly understood if you consider it with the previous words:

'A creeping dread in every heart,
Lost in the world, now God departs."


When I wrote these lines, I had Luke 23:48 in my mind. 


 Luke 23:46-48
⁴⁶Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.
 ⁴⁷The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, "Surely this was a righteous man." ⁴⁸When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.
 
The word 'lost' does not refer to Jesus but to us. Humanity. In crucifying the Son of God we were putting ourselves in a very lonely position.  We were trying to remove God (in Jesus) from the world.  And, in a very real way, we succeeded.  God was with us in the world and we caused his departure (not ultimately, of course).  The people standing around realized something of what they had done and beat their breasts. 


These lines were not meant as a comment on God abandoning Jesus or anything like that.  I simply meant that one moment God was physically with us in the world, and the next moment, he wasn't.


Is that okay?


Thanks for asking.  It's good to know that you are thinking about the words that you are singing.


In Christ,


Simone

Discussion question

"It is possible to be a godly woman and never have anyone over to your house."

What do you think?

happiness is...

... ordering a whole lot of beautiful choral music!

There is nothing so sweet as the sound of a good choir singing a Paul Jarman song.

slavery to sheet music

Craig has written a piece for Sydney Anglicans on directing music at church. This bit touched my heart:

Another major challenge, for my church at least, has been managing the sheet music. It is continually going missing, or winding up in the wrong folder, and we spend precious minutes at rehearsal trying to track it down.

So true, so true.

Sheet music is dreadful stuff.  It tries to rule my life.  Before church on a Sunday I just want to get on with practicing.  But I have to search for the sheet music first, and make sure there is a copy for everyone.  During church I want to play in a key in which the congregation can actually sing.  But the sheet music says G major, so what can I do?  And I don't want to play 4 different chords per bar but that's what's written!  After church I want to go talk to people.  I don't want to do the tedious task of filing stupid music away.  But I have to.  I am a slave to these little black dots on A4 pieces of paper.  I need them so I have to obey them. And what they scream out is 'FILE ME!' and 'PLAY ME!'  But I don't want to do either.

I need a solution. 

Here are my options:

1. We put a nice little ipad on each music stand. 
I think there could be a system with CCLI where when song owners publish a song, we send it electronically to CCLI - both sheet music and a recording (we already do this - but we could do it in a way that it could easily be put on a website - Scorch or whatever).  Then CCLI chuck it up on a site and churches can pick their songs and play them from the screen.  If ti was done in a decent program, we could transpose it easily and have just a melody and chords, just chords and words, or a full piano score.  The program could keep a track of what music we are using and bill us accordingly.

Pros

• Clean.  After the initial registration, there would be no paperwork.  No CCLI returns to put in, no sheet music to lose.  No paper, no mess!  
• Useful. You could do transpositions or whatever with a single click!  You could play a demo of the song so you know what you are aiming for. You could use whichever version of the score was most helpful to you: chords and words, melody and chords, full piano...

Cons

• Non-existent. Such a system doesn't really exist yet.  Someone would need to make it.
• Expensive.  Hard to justify the expense when there are people starving in the world

2.   We ditch sheet music all together and memorise every song instead.

Pros

• Cheap.  Saves money on photocopying.
• Educational.  Memorization helps you understand the music better - if you understand it better, you'll improvise better and transpose better.
• Freeing.  Most sheet music (for modern songs at least) was never intended to be played.  Not having it there will free people up to play what they should play
• Clean.  No mess to clear up.  No music to file.
• Cooler.  You can play with a fan blowing in your face and the music won't fly away.
• Helpful.  Will show the drummers that we are as clever as they are.
• Satisfying.  Great adrenaline buzz at the start of each song. Excellent feeling if you make it to the end together.

 Cons

• Scary.  Suggesting this would freak people out.  
• Dangerous.  Higher possibility of major musical catastrophes... 

3.  We continue our lives of slavery to printed music.  
But who wants to?

Which option should we take?

I have orthodics!

Finally they've arrived!  One is built up slightly higher than the other.  It's really weird.  I stand up and it's like... both my legs are the same length or something.  Crazy!

Still limping, though.  For how long can a foot hurt?

jaundiced jackal on a jukebox in jeopardy

This is part two of Joel's term 1 talk trilogy (talk 1 here).  He has to find some interesting words starting with J and explain their meaning to his class.  Of course, he couldn't just stand up and tell the class about his five words...

I have to write a bible talk

It's been so long that I've forgotten how.

Can anyone tell me?

yesterday I wrote 3 letters...

... saying all sorts of things that I thought I needed to.  It felt good to get it all off my chest.

Still feels good.  I feel heaps closer to the people I wrote to.

Even thought I haven't sent them.

And probably won't now.

Hmm.

My Ideal Day

My ideal day would look like this:

6.00 - gym
7.00 - kids happily get ready for school.  No lost hats or swimming caps.
8.15 - good traffic on way to school
8.45 - blogging, quick house tidy (it's pretty good already cause I did it all yesterday!)
9.30 - go to coffee shop and sit and read and write, hopefully producing something good.
2.45 - get kids, do fun projects with them.  Better still if Andrew happened to have afternoon off (unlikely)
6.00 - feed kids
7.00 - put kids to bed.
7.15 - friends come around, eat take away, stay up late.

How about you?

a proud parenting moment!

Don't the little ones grow up fast?  My boy (Nathan) reached a milestone today.  He got his own blog!  It's called TP Hut and I've added it to my sidebar. 

Nathan is an avid blog reader.  He loves the silly stuff on Nathan (senior's) blog and the funny stories on Ben's.  He's been wanting his own for ages and I've been saying no, but Trevor (thanks Nicole) said it was a good idea, so now I've agreed.

I'm going to try and stay out of it and let him blog whatever he wants.  He knows about internet safety and I'll keep an eye on things but I think this could be a good opportunity for him to: find his own 'voice' (everyone needs to do this!), learn to type, amuse his friends (and me), and express himself.  As he gets better at typing, I might encourage him to write some opinion pieces.  But for the next little while I'm suggesting that he master that all important blogging form - the list!

Do go over and have a look.  I won't think it weird if you drop him an occasional comment.

No work today!

Hooray hooray hooray hooray!

Hezekiah

I've been procrastinating for the last two hours.  I need to write my Sunday School lesson on Hezekiah (2 Kings 18-20) some time in the next 11 hours.  I also need to sleep in that time, eat breakfast, iron clothes and get us all to church.

But I've been wasting time instead of writing.

I have an idea, though.  I have a map of the ancient middle east (a bit like this one).  I'll raid Nathan's game of Risk and steal some figures and use them to represent the scary Assyrian army that was moving through taking over everyone.  I'll talk about how Israel was already wiped out and how King Sennacherib had taken over most of the other countries in the region. 

Some questions.
Where do I start? With scarry King Sennacherib or with godly King Hezekiah, or with Joash from last week, or with the fall of Samaria?
What bits of the story do I draw out? If I want to paint Hezekiah as a good king, I need to draw out the ways in which he is like The Good King - Jesus.  In the Assyrian taunts I'm hearing hints of Psalm 2, 1 Samuel 17 and Matthew 27:43.  Hezekiah is like Jesus because he (mostly) trusted God to deliver him.  God vindicated his name and delivered Hezekiah from death at the hand of King Sennacherib.  Jesus was delivered through death as are we.  God will always vindicate his name.  The whole world will see that he is Lord. 
What is my take home message?  Hmmm.
Where do I finish?  I think I might finish where 2 Kings starts - with God's assessment of Hezekiah.  Pretty good.  8.5/10 I think.

An epiphany

I had an epiphany last night.  Let me tell you about it.

Men have 1,185 chapters of the bible.  Women, it often seems, have about 4.  (If I was to be generous, I could count Esther or Ruth and stretch it to 10.)

In the last few years I have been getting increasingly frustrated with books and articles and talks directed at women.  Last year I wanted to give up going to ministry wives events.  Every time I've heard or read the words 'Biblical Womanhood' I've felt my mind and body shake almost as if I'm angry.  I gear myself up for yet another guilt or boredom inducing re-run through Genesis 2, Titus 2, 1 Timothy 3 or Proverbs 31.

I've been asking myself why I react so strongly to the mere mention of these passages.  Is it because I don't think they are God's word?  No.  Is it because I don't want to hear what God has to say to me?  There may be a little bit of this, but I think it's something else.  Is it because I don't agree with the writer or speaker's interpretation of these passages?  Sometimes, maybe, but it's more than this.  Is it because I'm discontent with my lot as a woman?  No. I have a husband and kids that I love, friends, a great job, a great church, writing hobbies, the gym and you, dear blog reader!  I wouldn't swap my lot with anyone!

So why the extreme reaction to talks and articles on Biblical Womanhood?

Last night I worked it out.

It is because they often seem to be written assuming that the reader isn't already doing the things that they are talking about.  Or at least I read them and feel that I'm being accused of not doing the things that I should be doing.  I know that this is not the author or speaker's intent, yet I am left feeling flat and discouraged (or angry).  When I can't fit anything more into my life, I'm presented with a whole list of stuff that's yet to be done.  The task is overwhelming. I cannot accomplish it, and no-one can, because the things on the list are not the kind of things that can (or should be) ticked off.

A standard list from such a seminar, article or book might look something like this: 
We should be:

• being hospitable
• making meals for people at church
• playing with our kids
• having lots of sex with our husbands
• feeding our families
• helping out in soup kitchens
• re-organising our pantries and getting the house under control
• making family budgets
• helping other mums with their kids
• doing bible study with other women
• being the family CEO from our kitchen-office
• teaching younger women how to sew and cook

Many of these things will never be finished.  If I help out in a soup kitchen one week, there's probably 15 vacant spots with no-one to fill them next week.  While I'm rearranging my pantry, the kids are collaging all the empty boxes to the walls in their bedroom and so I'm no further ahead in getting the house under control.  I play with my kids for half an hour after school and then I feel bad because I don't have the time (or inclination) to play with them for longer.  For every one woman I spend time with at church, there are another ten who I feel I should be investing in.  I had sex with my husband this morning and now...

So I'm left with a choice.  I can:

• Be angry.  Rant about how I hate these talks and seminars and books and articles and sound like raving feminist.
• Take my flat and angry feelings to God in some kind of repentance.  Say I'm sorry for not being what I ought to be.  And then feel like there's still something wrong because I'm repenting of ... I'm not sure what.  Being a human with limitations?  Being a woman who likes to blog and work a couple of days a week? Or?
• Talk myself out of guilty feelings by listing all the ways that I have fulfilled the list.  In the last week I have made more food for others than for my own family.  I have taught the bible in various ways to over 300 children.  I have had many people through my home.  I've kept my house tidy and my children fed....    All this is true but it's a pretty unhelpful exercise.  I like to not notice the things that I do.  I do them because I want to do them, not in order to fulfill some sort of requirement or impress myself!

So what's the answer?

When we were at Moore College, the most encouraging women's fellowship evening was one in which Peter and Christine Jensen spoke to us.  They started off by telling us the ways in which they could see that God was working in our lives, the things about our community that were evidence of the growth of the gospel among us.  Our care for eachother.  How we were gentle in how we spoke.  How we went to church each week, whether we felt like it or not.  Yes, there were things we struggled with, but largely, we needed to quit all the analysis and just get on and do them.

I think it's the same with this kind of stuff.  An occasional 'well done, you are doing okay, keep going' would be heaps more encouraging than books telling me all the things that I need to be doing.  Of course, some people probably do need a kick in the pants, but when I look at my bible study group, the women in it are all doing fantastic jobs of serving their families and our church.  One woman who's youngest child has just started school, looks after another mum's 4 kids one day a week so the mum can go out and do all the jobs she needs to.  Another with a six month old baby manages to do the admin for our Sunday school as well as loads of other jobs.  Another mum who sometimes struggles being at home looking after her own toddler is an endless stream of encouragement to other women in a similar position.  Our bible study group is fantastic, and I suspect it's not all that unusual.

Making women feel guilty is easy.  But guilt is a dreadful motivator.  Encourage us to keep going at the things we are doing well and we will do them more and serve joyfully.

End of rant.

10 reasons why I love being part of a denomination

1.  I have a sense that the kingdom is bigger than just my local church, and I have an easy forum in which I can see and watch and help it grow elsewhere.

2.  I have fellowship with great people that I don't go to church with.  Andrew and I are connected with a network from our denomination who we meet with each quarter to eat, chat and pray.  They care about how our church is going and we care about their churches.

3.  I share a common enemy with others.  My pressy friends and I can get together and whinge about The Denomination or The Code or The Confession or Presbytery or whatever demon is haunting us at that moment.  This is fun.

4.  I get to enjoy group jokes.  (Anyone seen the latest newdirections?)

5.  If we go all heretical, someone will (probably) pull us up for it.

6.  Research* has shown that people in denominations feel more connected and loved than those not in a denomination.

7.  Someone else cares about stuff that I don't want to care about (like money and insurance and child-safe).


8.  Being part of a denomination makes you look (slightly) more legit and less cult-like to those on the outside.

9.  There is money we can borrow for building projects and stuff.

10.  All the cool people are in my denomination.

* Sample size, 2 people.

making butter chicken and dahl

...and eating it with friends tonight.  Yum.

One serve of the butter chicken has 82g of fat and a whole day's calories. And that's without the rice!

Hopefully it will be worth it.

The Cat Came Back

Old Mister Johnson had troubles of his own
He had a yellow cat that wouldn't leave his home;
He tried and he tried to give the cat away,
He gave it to a man goin' far, far away, far away.

But the cat came back the very next day,
The cat came back, we thought he was a goner
But the cat came back; he just couldn't stay away,
Away, Miaow! Miaow! Miaow!

The man around the corner swore he'd kill the cat on sight,
He loaded up his gun with nails and dynamite;
He waited and he waited for the cat to come around,
Ninety seven pieces of the man is all they found, all they found.

But the cat came back...

He gave it to a man going up in a balloon,
He told him to take it to the man in the moon;
The balloon came down about ninety miles away,
Where he is now, well I dare not say, dare not say.

But the cat came back...

He gave it to a man going way out West,
He told him to give it to the one that he loved best;
The train hit the curve, and then it jumped the rail,
No soul was left behind to tell the gruesome tale, gruesome tale.

But the cat came back....

The cat it had some company one night out in the yard.
Someone threw a boot jack, and they threw it might hard;
It caught the cat behind the ear, she thought it rather slight,
When along came a brick-bat and knocked her out of sight, out of sight.

But the cat came back....

Away across the ocean they did send the cat at last,
Vessel only out a day and making water fast;
People all began to pray, the boat began to toss,
A great big gust of wind came by and every soul was lost, soul was lost.

But the cat came back....

The cat was a possessor of a family of its own,
With seven little kittens till there came a great cyclone;
Blew the houses all part and tossed the cat around,
The air was full of kittens, and not one was ever found, ever found.

But the cat came back....

The atom bomb fell just the other day,
The H-Bomb fell in the very same way;
Australia went and England went, and then the U.S.A.
The human race was finished without a chance to pray, chance to pray.

But the cat came back the very next day,
The cat came back, we thought he was a goner
But the cat came back; it just couldn't stay away.
Away, miaow, miaow, miaow!.

Harry S. Miller

I'm stuffed.

Chocolate or exercise?

and I was so pleased with myself.

This morning I got up early and prepared what I thought would be 4 meals before breakfast (2 for us, 2 for others.)  I knew I'd be out all day, so for us I made a slow cooked sausage casserole.  I used a recipe base (unusual for me) and it was one made for a slow cooker so nothing should have gone wrong.... but it did.  I have burnt sausages for us for dinner tonight.

That'll teach me to be organised!  From now on, its back to good old think-about-it-at-5.45 meals.

fun

I'm going through my old teaching resources and have found a cool collection of rounds that I had completely forgotten about.

Anyone remember these:

• Let's put the rooster in the stew
• Hey Ho Nobody Home
• Canoe Song
• Shalom Chaverim
• Toembai
• Rise Up, O Flame (Praetorius)
• Debka Hora

primary school choir repertoire

I will be starting a year 4-5 choir at our school next term.  I'm after repertoire.

Anyone?  Anyone?

I'm looking for winner songs that will be fun and achievable - unison and 2 part to begin with.  The kids have never sung in a choir before.

I'm trying to avoid odes to music and songs about world peace.  The year 6-7 choir master inflicts these on us at every available opportunity.

Any ideas?

tabs

How many internet tabs is too many to have open at any one time?

My limit is 6.  That's the number the top of my firefox browser can comfortably hold.  Any more than that and I start to stress.

Andrew's limit is about 300.  I panic when I look at his computer screen.  I quickly kill about 20 of them then realise the task is beyond me so I open up firefox again in (yet) another window.  I'm sure his computer has tabs still open from last easter. And it's not just me.  Others have spoken about Andrew's excessive tab use.

How about you?  How many tabs do you have open right now?

homework acrostic

At last the rain is
Unleashed. It
Tells of the
Unusual occasion when
Melted rock is frozen.
Nobody wants winter.

by Joel R. (age 8)

Andrew says that this must be a real poem because he doesn't understand it.  I don't either, but don't care because the words sound so nice together.  Should I suggest he re-write the 5th line and try to stay on topic or just leave it as is?

Song of Songs

Gary Millar is a fantastic guy - humble, interesting, funny, and passionate about the same OT books as me. How could you not like him? His talks on the Song of Songs were good. I appreciated his approach but wasn't convinced by a few things.

Millar's approach to the Song rests on his reading of chapter 8. Solomon is the author and the book is a critique of his own ... experience...  in matters of love and marriage.  This is Solomon's wisdom on the topic.  He realises that contentment, peace, shalom, lie in exclusive, committed relationships like the characters in this book enjoy and not in his own ridiculously polygamous lifestyle.  Millar deduces this from 8:11-12.

The woman says:
Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon;
he let out his vineyard to tenants.
Each was to bring for its fruit
a thousand shekels of silver.

But my own vineyard is mine to give;
the thousand shekels are for you, O Solomon,
and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit. (8:11-12 NIV)


Solomon's vineyard is his harem and the tennants are his harem staff.

I don't mind Millar's approach, but I think it's made stronger if you imagine it is the lover (male) speaking in 8:11-12 (the text doesn't specify).  Miller thinks the speaker is female on the basis of the vineyard reference from 1:6 ('my own vineyard I have neglected').  I disagree.  In 8:12, I think the vineyard may well be referring to the woman's body (as in 1:6) - but the point is that her body is his to enjoy.  Another translation renders it this way:

King Solomon had a vineyard
on the hill of plenty
He gave that vineyard to watchmen
and each would earn for tis fruit
one thousand pieces of silver.

My vineyard is all my own.
Keep your thousand, Solomon! And pay
two hundred to those
who must guard the fruit.

I'm no Hebrew scholar so I don't know if its a good translation, but it works for me poetically.  The lover is comparing his lot to Solomon's and concluding that he has it better.  It is better to be an ordinary man in love with one woman than to be a king married to 1000.

Millar pointed out that the Song is much vaguer than some big-time speakers would have us think.  The images are suggestive and enticing but not explicit.  They mostly cannot be tied down to particular things.  Furthermore, many specific application points that have been made in talks on the Song of Songs come more from the speaker's head than from the text!  This was refreshing to hear.

It was interesting to hear Millar say the Song is more about love than sex.  In this context, the two are hard to separate.  But worth considering.

His ideas about how to take a talk on the Song to Jesus are what I think might be his most tenuous - though in the big scheme of things, not unhelpful.  NASB has the Lord appearing in 8:6


    ⁶"Put me like a seal over your heart,
         Like a seal on your arm
         For love is as strong as death,
         Jealousy is as severe as Sheol;
         Its flashes are flashes of fire,
         The very flame of the LORD. 

From this, Millar argues that the strength of our love is a reflection of the Lord's.

Trouble is, the -Yah in verse 8 could just be an emphatic -yah, rather than a reference to Yahweh.  NIV renders it that way:  "It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame."  I'm not a Hebrew scholar, so I don't know.  And I'm not a preacher, so I don't care.

It was an interesting evening.  If you are in Brisbane you should get along and hear Gary speak on Deuteronony at QTC in the next couple of days.  I'll be there if I don't have to work (which is unlikely because it's raining.).

Tonight...

... I am going to a lecture on Song of Songs. Should be fun.

work work work...

It's all I ever do.

I was hoping for a day off today. Not so.

When am I going to blog?

Athaliah

I made this for the kids talk in church this morning.  It was the warm-up/background to the lesson on King Joash (aka Jehoash) from 2 Kings 12.  [Joash is an interesting character.  Like Samuel, he was raised in the temple.  He was brought up by Jehoiada the priest and taught well.  2 Kings tells us that he did good ... all the days that Jehoiada instructed him... but leaves it at that.  Chronicles tells us what happened after Jehoiada died - and it isn't pretty.]

Enjoy.  There is no sound.  If I was clever I'd have recorded the narration over the top... but I didn't think of making it till 8.30 last night and I was pretty tired.  It's a bit boring because of the long gaps left to make room for the narration.

Athaliah had always been powerful. She was the daughter of evil King Ahab of Israel and had grown up as a princess. She liked wearing a crown and she liked being able to tell people what to do.

Now in those days, the northern kingdom of Israel and the Southern kingdom of Judah were friendly with eachother.

When Athaliah was old enough she was looking for someone to marry. Hmm. Who should she choose? She couldn't marry a common man. If she did, she wouldn't get to wear her crown any more. No. It would have to be a king, or a prince at least! Ah! How about King Jehoram of Judah? Perfect. Not too far from home and very powerful! An excellent idea.

So that's what Athaliah did. She married the King of God's people. But should he have married her?

No. Like her father Ahab, Athaliah had no time for God. So the king of Judah shouldn't have married her. But King Jehoram had no time for God either. So they were a pretty good match.

Queen Athaliah and King Jehoram lived together for years. Together they bossed people around, worshipped idols and did all kinds of evil in the sight of the Lord. When God had had enough of this zero out of ten king, he died and Athaliah was left alone and no longer a queen.

Do you think she liked that? Not being a queen any more? No. She didn't.

But she cheered up a little when her son Ahaziah became King. Being the mother of the King gave you a little bit of power... not so much as being queen, but still some.

Ahaziah wasn't king for very long. Just one year. He was up visiting relatives up in Israel when he was killed. And that was the end of him.

So where did that leave Athaliah. Not a princess anymore. Not a queen. Not even the mother of the king. Likely one of Ahaziah's sons, one of her grand-sons would become king. And she would just be the... grandmother of the king?

No way. Athaliah didn't like that idea. She would have no power at all.

So she came up with a plan. A cunning and horrible plan. Athaliah looked at all her grandchildren around her. To get the power all back for herself, all she had to do was to get them out of the way. Then she could take the crown back and rule Judah herself. She would be queen!

It was a terrible plan. But Athaliah was a terrible woman. Remember King Ahab? He was her father and she was exactly like him. She didn't care at all about what God thought and she had no regard for people either. Quickly and quietly she disposed of all of her grandchildren ...

Well, not quite all of them. See this one left over? That's little prince Joash. But he was just a baby and his clever aunty whisked him out of the way and hid him carefully

… and then she made herself Queen of Judah.

So Athaliah got what she wanted. Queen, boss, ruler of Judah. And she got to enjoy it for 7 years.

But then it was found out that little Joash was still alive and all Athaliah's muderous plotting caught up with her. She was put to death – which is exactly what she deserved – and the boy Joash became king.

But what sort of king would Joash be?

five good things

1. I'm going out with friends tonight.

2. The song we are currently working on is going really well. I think it could be better than anything we've come up with for years.

3. I've really enjoyed the Chester book I've been reading.  In the past I've shyed away from Chester mainly because I don't like the art on the covers of his books.  His books have the appearance of unoriginality and boring tedium.  Now I've actually read one, I will more successfully be able to overlook his publisher's poor taste.

4.  Joel was a (very) little bit sick today so he stayed home.  We went to the art gallery and looked at stuff (rather than do the children's activities) which was good.  Joel is a 3D boy and really likes stuff made out of old metal stuff and sculptures of heads with fish on top.

5.  Today I finally sorted out a work over payment problem that I've been ignoring for months.  I had a threatening phone call yesterday saying they were sending in debt collectors...  The initial problem was not my fault at all.  The pay office overpaid me.  Ignoring all the letters they sent was certainly my fault.   But I spoke to the principal and admin officer at my main school and they have sorted it all out for me and I don't have to fill in a single form.  

I normally try not to use my blog to tell people what to do, but...

There are two of you out there who read this blog but don't read Ben's.  This is dumb and you should change your ways right now.  Really, you should.  You must.  Bookmark this or put it on your reader or do whatever it is that you do.  But do it now.  I'll be checking!

Ben's writing is gentle and real and so so funny.  Like this post.  Go over and smile. 

in search of a mainstream non-romantic song

Okay, so my friend is looking for a well known mainstream song to use at a church outreach next week. Something they can perform. The talk is a Kellar reason for belief type thing. The song should raise questions about what life is all about.

Trouble is, a song can't easily be found. A decade or two ago there were plenty to choose from. U2, REM etc were churning them out.

In the last 10 years? Nothing.

Why not?

I think its because these days we interpret any existential angst we might feel as romantic/sexual angst.

So whereas the eighties gave us this, the naughties have delivered...

work

Yesterday I yelled at my kids for most of the day. This particular class need seatbelt locks on their chairs and gaffa tape across their mouths. I didn't let them get drinks or go to the toilet (unless I thought their need was actually desperate) and I insisted that they work. One girl who had been particularly annoying, summed up the class' attitude. When I asked her to stop moving around the room wasting time and to sit and work, she said, "But... I... don't... want... to!" What a shame!

Surely such a class would be glad to see the back of me at the end of the day. Surely I would happily shut the door on them. No. They said they wanted me to come back soon ("When will you teach us again?") and I was hoping for a call back today.

The phone just rang. I'm going in.

you know it's hot...

... when you have a shower at 9pm in the dark because you think the heat of the light globe will push you over the edge.

This is how God shows his love

There's a place of healing
for the troubled soul
Where guilty burdens are released
and sinners are made whole.
A sight that ever comforts,
casting out our fears
The earth may fall, the cross stands tall
towering through the years.

This is how God shows his love-
See, his arms out wide?
See, forgiveness, mercy, love
Are flowing from his side?
This is how God shows his love-
it's written in his blood
God on high took flesh and died
He gave up all for us.

The guiltless for the guilty
him in place of me
His perfect record swapped with mine
that I might righteous be.
Away, all fear of judgement!
Away, all anxious tears!
The cross, our light, is shining bright
and will through all the years.

sar 2010

an easter song

I've been asked to write a kids Easter song - kind of in this style.

I've done easter songs before (like Easter Friday (here) and 1-2-3-4-5 (here)) but this one will be more ambitious.

I need an angle.  Anyone?

the way of the cross

"So what exactly does it mean to follow Jesus?

This is how Jesus answered that question: 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me' (Luke 9:23). Following Jesus means following the way of the cross. Later, in Luke's gospel, Jesus says: 'And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot become my disciple' (Luke 14:27).

It's a call to die. For some this may mean a call to literal death - to persecution and martyrdom. ...

But for all of us it's a call to die to self. This way of the cross isn't the calling of a few. It's the stamp of every Christian's life. When Paul says we're to be imitators of God, he spells this out by saying that we're to 'live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God' (Ephesians 5:1-2).

To follow the way of the cross means to show the same sacrificial love that Jesus showed when he went to the cross...

• sacrifice
• submission
• self-denial
• service
• suffering

From Tim Chester, The Ordinary Hero: Living the cross and resurrection, pp49-50.

I'm loving this book.  If there is only one Christian book you read this year, pick this one.  It's passionate, challenging and heartwarming.

love is...

... a physio with tape.

Every step hurt. He made it stop.

Metaphor

I'm a riddle in nine syllables,
An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf's big with its yeasty rising.
Money's new-minted in this fat purse.
I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf.
I've eaten a bag of green apples,
Boarded the train there's no getting off.

Sylvia Plath

I spent a couple of hours in Borders today, reading books that I wasn't going to buy. I was looking through a book of Sylvia Plath poems also her personal journals (and they are quite personal*). I found this poem, worked it out, then checked that day's entry in her journal to see if I was right - and also to see her situation at the time of writing. I was right about the poem (as you probably are) - but if you think it seems a little ... negative... you're right. She wrote it on a day of frustration and disappointment.

*Is it wrong to read this kind of thing? I find it fascinating.

10 things to do when you are feeling irritable, pathetic, bored and restless

1.Sleep
2. Stay away from chocolate*
3. Go for a swim
4. Vacume the floor or put on a load of washing
5. Write a poem about feeling irritable, pathetic, bored and restless
6. Stay away from chocolate*
7. Say a prayer - Dear God, I am feeling irritable, pathetic, bored and restless.  Please help me to not do any harm to myself or others.
8. Buy a convenience packet of pre-cut stir fry veges and cook them up with some oyster sauce.  Eat them in front of a good tv show.
9. Buy low fat, low sugar yoghurt and eat it in front of a good tv show
10. Stay away from chocolate*


* or whatever else you might use as a crutch when you're feeling irritable, pathetic, bored and restless.