Archive for June, 2005
Saturday, June 25th, 2005
If you love your father or mother or even your sons and daughters more than me, you are not fit to be my disciples. And unless you are willing to take up your cross and come with me, you are not fit to be my disciples. If you try to save your life, you will lose it. But if you give it up for me, you will surely find it.
Matthew 10:37-39 (Contemporary English Version)
As a teenager I was part of a gospel music group. We’d tour the local churches, singing contemporary folk music, providing the occasional drama and sharing a message. This was the context in which I first learned that I could preach. As a 16 year old I and my peers tried our hand at studying the Bible and finding encouragement and challenge for our listeners.
Every now and then, my mother would tell me I was way out of my depth. “I didn’t know enough to be preaching”. Looking back from where I stand, I didn’t know what I know now. I didn’t see as I see now, with the benefit of experience. But I had enough to start with. I looked at my mother who had spent years reading and studying and yet was reluctant to take on responsibilities beyond her home. I didn’t want to be that person in my fifties.
I imagine that the followers of Jesus had similar experiences. “What do you mean, you’re heading off to heal the sick in strange towns, without a budget?” If people had taken their cues from their families, Jesus may never have had a team to send out.
I still find people who are paralysed by anxiety about the opinions of their families. I find people in their forties who steer away from youth ministry because their grown teenage kids have rejected their values and told them they know nothing. I find teenagers who have limited their horizons because they’re concerned about what their parents or their friends will say.
“What would XX think?” is the resounding mantra - the parent tapes playing in the background. Or “What might I be risking here?”
Jesus here is taking a group of average men and women and taking them to the next level of extraordinary leadership. He’s taking them from concern about ‘reputation and safety’ to entrepreneurial ‘can-do’ vision. And the most crucial step in that move is working out whose opinion really counts at the end of the day, or the end of one’s life.
I think of Shawshank Redemption - Red learning to dream and act beyond his imprisonment. I think of J M Barrie working to make theatre an intergenerational experience. I think of the crazy ones of the Apple Think Different TV ads.
I’m thinking of the sermon I’m preaching tomorrow morning at Stafford Uniting. And whether it really matters what people think of me, or if they are given permission and space to expand their dreams of what God can do through them.
I’m thinking of Crowded House’s song,
“Don’t Dream It’s Over…
Now I’m walking again to the beat of a drum
and I’m counting the steps to the door of your heart
Only shadows ahead
They’ll be clear in the roof
Get to know the feeling of liberation and release
Hey now Hey now don’t dream it’s over
Hey now Hey now when the world comes in
They come, they come to build a wall between us
You know that they won’t win
Posted in Gospel, Worth Reading | 2 Comments »
Saturday, June 25th, 2005
I signed up a while back with Odeo (Beta). On Thursday June 23 I received my invitation to check out the now working facilities there. Odeo is the place to browse, listen, upload,download, sync to your iPod (or any Mp3 player).
Evan Williams and Noah Glass are the two creators behind Odeo. They’re blogging the development of the company at the Odeo Blog. Though Rabble, one of the technicians on the project is also blogging at Anarchogeek.
Ev co-founded and CEO’ed Pyra Labs, the creators of Blogger, in 1999, before joining up with Google (with Blogger) in 2003. After a connection with Noah his neighbour he collaborated on Audioblogger, a facility making it possible to phone an audio blog on to the net. He left Google in October 2004 and ended up starting a new company, ODEO, again working with Noah Glass, his neighbour in Noe Valley, San Francisco. Ev’s been blogging at www.evhead.com since February 1999.
So what do I think of Odeo? Well it’s early days yet. So far we have the capacity to listen to streamed material online, and download mp3 podcasts with ease. The synchroniser is a great bit of software and works intuitively. We have the capacity to add podcasts to the database by providing URLs for audio content already on the web.
Podcasts of interest
ABC Radio: Triple j’s Hack, Dr Karl, an accoustic session from Ben Lee…
Sermons: Mark Driscoll’s hour long sermons from Mars Hill in Seattle…
Creating Podcasts
In the future we’re promised the facilities for creating our own podcasts:
Odeo Studio - A browser-based tool that makes it easy to record and publish audio. With the Studio, and a cheap microphone (or even the one built into your laptop), you have everything you need.
Phone Posting If you can leave a voicemail, you’ll be able to podcast, with Odeo’s phone-posting service - a quick and easy way to put your voice on the web (and in people’s ears).
Feed Creation and Hosting - If you already have audio, and you just want to get it into podcasting form, Odeo provides the turnkey way to do that. Just upload your MP3s, and you’re done.
Posted in Worth Reading | No Comments »
Friday, June 24th, 2005
I have just come across Peter Sheahan’s research blog, focusing on Generation Y and the workplace. Peter’s an entrepreneurial Gen Yer living in Sydney, Australia. He’s made a mark with his business that helps members of Gen Y and leaders of large companies work together more effectively. His book, Generation Y: Thriving (and Surviving with Generation Y at Work) was published last month.
Peter’s Workshop topics are:
1. The Y Factor - Thriving (and Surviving) with Generation Y in the Workplace
2. Cracking the Talent Code - Turning your Potential into Profit
3. Building a Profitable Personal Brand -Stand out from the Competition by building the Brand called YOU!
4. Creating Mind Blowing Customer Experiences
Aqualung blogs about attending Peter’s workshop on Gen Y in the workplace. He wonders if Gen Y are exclusive holders of the cutting edge approaches to work that Peter’s talking about. After all, Aqualung says, Tom Peters (Boomer) and Davd St Lawrence (pre-Boomer) are advocating similar paradigm shifts. David comments that every generation of workers has its share of spoilt whingers, hard workers and entrepreneurs.
I’ll post a review of Peter’s book as soon as I can get hold of it and read it!
Posted in Blogging, Generations, Worth Reading | No Comments »
Friday, June 24th, 2005
Just passed a significant milestone - selling enough copies of my photos at istockphoto to be able to buy one medium resolution photograph ($2 US). Inspired by that I’ve started uploading more to my Istockphoto gallery. Royalties for uploaded photos are 20% of their sale value. My member name if you’re looking is DuncanMacleod.
iStockphoto is an online community of artists who share their photographs, digital images, vector illustrations and flash files, making them available at very cheap prices. I have painful memories of paying $400 for the use of a photo transparency back in the 20th century. And now to have the same quality of work available for $3 US is so amazing. Once you’ve joined up you can buy imagery with credit card, or Paypal, giving you access to over 321,000 images.
Each week there’s a free photograph at low, medium and high resolutions. This week’s is a can of worms, taken by photographer, Maartje van Caspel. Great conversation starter!
Posted in Worth Reading | 3 Comments »
Friday, June 24th, 2005
Niall Kennedy reports on the Technorati blog that on June 20 they changed the appearance of the ‘javascript embeds’ included on the web sites of Technorati members. This was part of the upgraded Technorati web site launched this week. Technorati got a bit of flack for changing the appearance of their links without warning. And so they changed back until further notice.
I did notice a couple of days ago that the Technorati links had changed in appearance. I think it looked more sophisticated but took up too much room. So good on them for changing back. But I’m looking forward to being able to choose which Technorati features I can place on my blogs. There’s the promise of being able to include a search box, profile photo, and other options.
Just in case you’re wondering who Technorati is, here’s the official blurb…
“Technorati is a real-time search engine that keeps track of what is going on in the blogosphere - the world of weblogs. A few years ago, Web search was revolutionized by a simple but profound idea - that the relevance of a site can be determined by the number of other sites that link to it, and thus consider it ‘important.’ In the world of blogs, hyperlinks are even more significant, since bloggers frequently link to and comment on other blogs, which creates the sense of timeliness and connectedness one would have in a conversation.
So Technorati tracks the number of links, and the perceived relevance of blogs, as well as the real-time nature of blogging. Because Technorati automatically receives notification from weblogs as soon as they are updated, it can track the thousands of updates per hour that occur in the blogosphere, and monitor the communities (who’s linking to whom) underlying these conversations.”
Technorati June 21
Posted in Blogging, Worth Reading | No Comments »
Friday, June 24th, 2005
Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me. And anyone who welcomes me also welcomes the one who sent me. Anyone who welcomes a prophet, just because that person is a prophet, will be given the same reward as a prophet. Anyone who welcomes a good person, just because that person is good, will be given the same reward as a good person. And anyone who gives one of my most humble followers a cup of cool water, just because that person is my follower, will surely be rewarded.
Matthew 10:40-42
I remember listening to a prominent New Zealand church leader telling an audience that Christians are called to serve Christians only. Not people outside the church. It was disturbing stuff. My congregation was in the middle of a heated discussion on the expansion of our shoppers’ creche, an expansion that would need investment in a safety fence and toilet facilities for children and disabled. I could see a number of my fellow leaders grasping at a reason not to serve the community we lived in.
The preacher explained to us that Jesus only meant his followers to look after each other. “By this will all men know that you are my disciples, that you have love for one another.” Those on the outside, he said, will look at your care for each other and long to join you.
For many reasons I didn’t buy into this approach. For one, I don’t believe Christians looking after themselves only is an attractive sight to those on the outside. It only brings a reputation for being inward looking and stingy. For another, I don’t think Jesus was talking here about who his followers should be looking after.
The context here is a commission to go into places that may appear inhospitable. His disciples must have been afraid of rejection, misunderstanding, a feeling of inadequacy and finding nowhere to eat, drink and sleep. Jesus has told them they must not take money with them. They have to rely on the generosity of the locals.
So, he says, whoever welcomes you as a prophet will receive the reward of a prophet. Whoever welcomes you as a good person will receive the reward of a good person. And whoever gives you a cup of cold water because you are my follower will also be rewarded.
But what is the reward of a prophet? Usually rejection, misunderstanding, a feeling of inadequacy and finding nowhere to eat, drink and sleep! Maybe Jesus is reminding his followers that those who will give them hospitality may end up paying the same costs of mission. “Don’t take their welcome for granted.”
Posted in Gospel | No Comments »
Friday, June 24th, 2005
Reported in the Age this week is the sentencing in the trial of Pentecostal Christian pastors Danny Nalliah and Daniel Scot. Judge Michael Higgins, of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, yesterday ordered Christian group Catch the Fire Ministries, Mr Scot and Mr Nalliah to publish apologies for comments made at a Melbourne seminar in March 2002, and in a newsletter and website article. Apparently they have vowed to go to jail rather than paying up to $68,690 to advertise in the local newspapers their public apologies for vilifying Muslims.
According to the Age article, Mr Nalliah called Victoria’s religious vilification law “sharia (Islamic) law by stealth”, “a foul law” and invalid, while Mr Scot said: “You don’t compromise truth for fear of jail.”
What’s at stake here?
Vilification
Anti-vilification laws are designed to keep a society free from vindictive hate-inducing behaviour that paints whole groups as vile or worthless. They are a response to what we have hopefully learned from the experiences of Nazi Germany, the Salem witch trials, and the anti-communist hunts of the McCarthy-era USA. Each of these waves of hatred started out in an atmosphere of fear. Hitler extermination policy capitalised on the German fear of Jewish, homosexuals, Gypsies, mentally and physically disabled, Gypsies, Jehovahs Witnesses, Social Democrats, trade unionists, Communists and Soviet prisoners of war. In the 1950s the United States were swept up in a wave of paranoia associated with the fear of communism in the house next door.
Who are these terrorists?
Right now we are experiencing a newly found fear of terrorism focused on the Muslim people, largely kicked off by the last ten years of Al Quaeda violence. We overlook the years of Irish and British terrorism. The years of Jewish terrorism. Years of ETA in Spain. Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. The bombing of the Oklahoma Building by American white supremacists. The lynching of African Americans by the white (often Christian) Klu Klux Klan members.
Free Speech
I’m reading a number of Christian bloggers bemoaning the threat to free speech, claiming they’ll no longer be able to proclaim the truth in their churches. There’s a fear that the anti-vilification laws will prevent a critique of other religions.
The truth’s a lot more than what’s wrong with someone else. Yes speaking the truth should be marked honesty. But that honesty should be one of care for accuracy, humility and self control. We should be aware of the impact of our words.
Earlier this week I wrote a review of Paula Harris’ article on postmodernism in the book, Postmission. Her comments are particularly helpful for us here.
Paula Harris writes that Christians in mission must answer the accurate critique that Christianity provided the metanarratives for slavery, womens’ oppression, apartheid, the Jewish Holocaust, the cultural genocide of indigenous people, the Crusades, and stolen generations. Apologetics for Harris is not just a matter of being right. It’s also about being humble enough to be wrong. She asks, “Am I holding my understanding of the gospel with humility? Does my faith express itself in gentleness, kindness, concern for justice?”
Posted in Worth Reading | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005
I’ve had an account with Google Adsense for just on 18 days now. It’s operational at Duncan’s TV Adland which receives something like 1300 visits a week.
I’ve done the maths and worked out that at this point I’m earning 20 cents (US) a day. The ads seem to be appropriately linked with the content of each page. I must admit I’ve checked a few of them out. However I don’t think I’ll bother with the other blogs. There’s not enough traffic to make it worthwhile.
Posted in Blogging, Worth Reading | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 21st, 2005
Looking through De Bono’s book, “The Six Value Medals”, I’m finding some very useful material for my work with communities discerning their shared core values. In particular, I’m finding material here that addresses the deep concerns of people who have been through company value clarification exercises that only focused on organisational values or paid only lip service to human values.
In this book De Bono takes a similar approach to his work on “Six Thinking Hats” and “Six Action Shoes”. Using “Six Value Medals” helps people look at their values again and again, developing a healthy depth to the bases of their shared decisions.
The six value medals:
Gold - human values - values that affect people
Silver - organisational values - related to the purpose of the organisation
Steel - quality values - related to intended direction
Glass - values of innovation, simplicity and creativity
Wood - environmental values - impact on environment, community and others
Brass - perceptual values - how might it be seen?
De Bono finishes with an exploration of values conflict. How do we make decisions when it is clear that some values will need to be sacrificed or diminished in significance?
Edward de Bono’s authorised web site is at www.edwdebono.com
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Tuesday, June 21st, 2005
When I’ve taught courses on spiritual gifts I’ve usually come across people who grapple with low self esteem. They look at the list of spiritual gifts in the inventory and say “I don’t recognise myself in here.” And then there’s people who avoid identifying strengths for fear of putting themselves forward and being found lacking. And then there’s those who compare themselves with their more ‘gifted’ brothers and sisters.
The process of exploring spiritual gifts need not be one of fitting people into boxes. At it’s best this can be a permission-giving process. Permission to let go of fear. Fear of not measuring up. Fear of offending. Fear of failing. Fear of shining even.
I’ve used a quote often attributed to Nelson Mandela but in fact from the pen of Marianne Williamson.
“Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some; it is in everyone. And, as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Posted in Worth Reading | 3 Comments »
Postkiwi Duncan Macleod posts on life, faith and culture in Australia, drawing from his involvement in the creative industry, the Uniting Church, the blogosphere, generational research, the emerging church and life on the Gold Coast.
