Ashes to Ashes...

Dust to dust...

Flash poll

Has the energy on this blog dropped because:

1. We've grown tired of visiting,
2. This blog has dropped (really far) down our online reading list,
   
3. The conversation has been cyclical and stagnant,
4. We've given up on idle banter, or
   
5. For no real reason
   

Does anyone still visit here?

Ariaan Vlok @ Northfield

Former apartheid-era Minister of Law and Order, Adriaan Vlok, renowned for his drastic measures to reduce unrest in 1980s, will be the guest speaker at Justice Sunday at Northfield, Benoni, this Sunday, 10h00.

In a recent act of contrition, Vlok made news by washing the feet of Rev Frank Chikane who survived a murder attempt under Vlok's watch.

If you're around this part of South Africa, see you there.

Is it helpful?

If you've been around Northfield recently you would have noticed that the culture of the church has changed a bit. along with the new building and how it impacts the feel of the place, we have welcomed Stephen Holly into the church as the contemporary worship pastor. With heading up that role, he also preaches quite extensively. Stephen is a direct character of the charismatic fold who is bold in his preaching and worship leading. Northfield is not used to this. As a church we're used to just plain nice preaching and worship. Within the YA group I've begun noticing how they don;t come to church when Stephen is around. It's almost a if they would Rather rnot be challenged by him and go where it is a whole lot easier to be a Christan.

But I do think this trend has it's root in the theme of "if it is not helpful, leave it behind". We apply this thinking to so many aspects of our lives. I now wonder if it is useful that we only follow the useful stuff?

Teenagers vs Books

Us Young Adults at Northfield now have a Bookclub, Yipee! I've never belonged to one before, so I really appreciate the opportunity to share what I read and allowing others to share....
Anyways, that's besides the point. I am appalled when I see how few young people, specifically teenagers, read. I don't remember a time in my life where I was not busy with some book. It was such an integral part of my youth, even though my reading material may have been rather shallow at times. Even the shallow reading helped develope a culture of reading.
It forces me to think how I was encouraged to read at a young age, but reading was so much part of my life that I needed little encouragement and I can't recall what got me reading. What troubles me is that I know the profound effect books have had on my life and that this generation is being robbed of that joy and opportunity.
How do we encourage this generation to read? If you are a reader, what contributed to that culture in your early years? ...or do we believe that the blogs, sms's and magazines our teenagers read, are sufficient?

Money, Money, Money?

Ok, so there are unwritten rules on poverty in ministry. The larger church is riddled with pastors amassing much personal wealth and also stories of individuals who suppress all material desires for the sake of their ministry.

On sexuality, the same contradictions occur, but after listening to a very learned minister recently, we were invited to broker a peace deal between our spirituality and sexuality. I wonder if the same can not be said about our material desires.

Is it possible to reconcile materialism and spirituality to such an extent that they help each other or are the doomed to continue living as enemies? Do we need to redefine materialism as something which does not necessarily imply greed?

Grading people

Ever wonder why we seemed to have erased from our collective memory the events of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake in which over 73,000 people died, but yet can't get past the 3,000-odd associated with 9-11?

Scott Adams poses a plausible reason why this migth happen here. Could it be that some trgaedies are worse than others based on who was wiped out?