St. Andrews Uniting Church

St. Andrews Uniting Church
Originally uploaded by bodulka

For a moment's reflection

Originally uploaded by fliegender

Easter is really "early" this year, 2008!

For those of you who want to know REALLY IMPORTANT stuff.

"Easter this year is on the second earliest possible date - 23 March.
Apparently it won't be this early again until 2160, and won't be on
the earliest date, 22 March, until 2285.”

"Attractional" model church.

I was spoken to by a member of a new church building located not too far from where I exercise my ministry. This person spoke of how that with their new building, its facilities, etc. they were hoping to "attract" (his words) new people to the church.

I think the problem with an attractional model is that it fundamentally contradicts the teachings of Jesus, especially that we can’t be his disciples unless we deny ourselves, pick up our crosses and follow him.

The attractional model is based on “come here and see all the stuff we can give you” and Jesus gets buried deep in all the "stuff" we reckon we've got . It may be well-intentioned (maybe) but it ends up as consumerism with a little Jesus sprinkled on top.

We’ve rightly shared that life with Jesus is life to the full but in countless ways we’ve sold the notion that you can live without first dying. It may not be catchy or appeal to felt needs, but an important part of the Church’s message is “you need to die… we can help.” But until WE die to self (individually and corporately), such a message rings hollow.

The church has too frequently preached Jesus’ “deny your self” message when what we’ve really meant is deny yourself as an individual, give to “the church”, then we can live selfishly as a group - the best Sunday morning show, the nicest coffee area, the biggest and best childen's area, etc. etc.

How did it come to this?!

You can see the problem throughout Christendom in the building of elaborate cathedrals, but I think the full blown attractional/consumeristic model is a fairly recent phenomenon. As I see it, maybe its just grown to the point that we can no longer avoid wrestling with it.

From "Articles on returning humanity to working life"

I was directed by an acquaintance to Joe Nocera’s article in New York Times Business section. The piece is entitled Put Buyers First? What a Concept. The following is part of a review by a writer on 'business leadership', etc. As you will appreciate by this brief "piece", and from reading the whole article, that what is being said is important not only for business, but also for our conduct with each other in other relationships as well. It's all about our 'character'.

The article is about customer service at Amazon.com and Wall Street’s reaction to it. Two brief extracts. The first is

Legg Mason’s legendary fund manager, Bill Miller, who has made a small fortune for his investors by betting big on Amazon, told me that “Wall Street is almost fanatically focused on margin expansion and contraction.”

But I couldn’t help wondering if maybe there wasn’t something else at play here, something Wall Street never seems to take very seriously. Maybe, just maybe, taking care of customers is something worth doing when you are trying to create a lasting company. Maybe, in fact, it’s the best way to build a real business — even if it comes at the expense of short-term results.

Here’s the second extract:

What Wall Street wanted from Amazon is what it always wants: short-term results. That is precisely what Dell tried to give investors when it scrimped on customer service and what eBay did when it heaped new costs on its most dedicated sellers. Eventually, these short-sighted decisions caught up with both companies.

The article has implications far beyond buying and selling. In just about every aspect of our lives — especially in the workplace — we are constantly faced with choosing between short-term gratification and long-term benefits that require patience to mature.

When you choose to create relationships that people value and trust, it may take a while for the returns to show up, but once they do, they nearly always grow strongly over the years. It’s a long-term bet on something that will last.

When you resort to “grab-and go” management, and manipulation for short-term benefits to yourself, the returns may also take a while to show themselves. And when they do — as they surely will one day — they tend to be swift, unexpected, and brutal. It’s a short-term bet on something that will likely evaporate as quickly as it arose and leave you wishing you’d never done it.

A further indulgence- two more pictures of Claudia

Content with Nana & having a not so happy Christmas Day.

Catching up!

Have got a bit behind, as they say, over the last couple of weeks. A lot to do with Christmas and all the worship, etc., commitments associated with that wonderful celebration, but, can I say it, beautifully distracted with a momentous happening! The birth of a grand-daughter Claudia Rose Guy on 22 December to our daughter Siobhan & son-in-law Scott. We've been, Gaynor & I, very busy Nana & Grandpa. As well we've been regularly going to Siobhan & Scott's 'new' home to help with renovations so that they can move in on 12 January. So, hopefully, I can begin to think & write a bit more but, at this moment Siobhan & Claudia are with us as Scott tries to make the house habitable after some workmen(?) failed to complete their tasks and thus put everything behind by weeks!
Anyway, here is a picture of Claudia Rose - at 7 hours of age!