shmatt.com

Hey.

Now that my serious posting is done at my new blog (Nomadic Faith), I can now feel free to post frivolous stuff here.

Like this:

Sorry Nick.  That was a harsh Nick name.

We had Nick Fielder (from the Nick and Josh podcast) and his lovely wife Leslie over for a meal at our home last night.  They are currently touring Australia, and we offered our home for a night or two.  Circumstances are that my wonderful mother-in-law (Alice, are you reading this?) is also staying, so she took trumps.  So it was dinner instead.

Nick and Josh are really two ordinary guys who have had the chutzpah to invite all sorts of ‘famous’ people (in some circles at least) onto their podcast for an amateurish but fun interview.  Some names include (ripped direcley from their site): Doug Pagitt, Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, Shane Claiborne, Phyllis Tickle, Andrew Jones, Scot McKnight, Diana Butler-Bass, Damien Jurado, Derek Webb, Karen Sloan, Spencer Burke, Bob Price, Frank Viola, Zach Lind, Jim Henderson, Pete Rollins, Bishop John Shelby Spong, and AJ Jacobs.  Our favourite here is Shane Claiborne, but I told Nick that I’d probably listen even without the ‘big’ names, because these guys are a hoot.  They currently have some 280,000 subscribers.

Nick and Leslie were very gracious as we in all-too-typical Aussie fashion bagged out their president and Americans in general.  I don’t think they minded too much.  I hope.

Anyway.  They were great company.  Felt like catching up with old friends, though we’d never met them before.  Check out the podcast.

I hate the idea of self promotion.  And I’ve always been unsure about whether I should make this blog personal or "theological" (for want of a better word).

Added to that, I’m preparing to podcast regularly, and I wanted to make that more than just about me.

So, I’ve started another site that will focus on encouraging others in faith through blogging and podcasting.  If you are here for that sort of blog rather than the random happenings of a bloke in Melbourne, then please move along to:

Nomadic Faith

(http://nomadicfaith.com)

I will continue to post posts about our family and personal journey here (at shmatt.com) for friends, family and those with a voyeuristic bent.

There is also our church site at http://thechurch.org.au

Thanks for dropping by!

I’d like to denounce the following clip taken from the short movie Most as an example of corny Christian media (after all, I first discovered it on GodTube), but I can’t.  The ‘parable’ of the bridge-master and his son is one of those over-used illustrations popping up in pulpits all over the world, but after hearing it a thousand times and telling myself that it is cheesy, I could not hold back the tears watching this clip (go on, call me lame):

I think I’ll be writing on the following subject more in the near future, but for now, I’ll just say is that what I appreciate most out of this illustration is that it focuses on the motivating passion of God (the father in the story) to save us from destruction and not to condemn us to destruction, as some would preach.

 

Technorati Tags: The Bridge, Most, Movies, Salvation

I’ve spent a short time in Africa, and one of the hardest parts for me was deciding what and who to give money to.  It’s quite a helpless feeling, because you know that what you give will be quickly consumed and the need really wouldn’t (in most cases) be fulfilled.  Add to that the constant question on your mind - am I being conned? 

I still struggle with what I could not achieve, failed promises (I tried not to make any) and the nagging feeling of arrogance that we can spend so much on a missions trip to take our presence to people who live on a few dollars a week.  A good friend assured me that we were told to ‘Go’ and that the Gospel is about personal contact, but I have not yet resolved this issue for myself.

In the mean time, a solution that I did consider in Africa was to support those people who are making an effort to support themselves. This breaks the dependency on western finance that plagues some communities in the third world, and instead provides a self-sustaining future.  I was pleased this week to come across the web site Kiva, where you are able to make contributions to loans that are given to small businesses in needy communities across the world.  The loan applicants deal with contacts within their communities, and your loan is repaid over a period of time (so in most cases you get your money back, while helping those in need).

Each contribution is US$25

 We’ve been deliberately backward in forward planning regarding the community(s) that we feel God has lead us to build (”The Church“), but still, we have a web site and an email address, both of which are listed in a few church directories in the hope of attracting others that would be interested in working with us as we plant.

This attracts an email every now and then, some from people visiting from out of town looking for a Sunday service to visit (we don’t run one) and, more often, emails from some person, business or ministry attempting to solicit our attention, money or in the case of last night’s email, my phone account.

The email goes (names removed to protect the innocent):

Some 12 months ago my wife and I commenced the operation of our company _________. Prior to this I felt led of the Lord to create a Christian business that would help finance the Gospel. I am aware that as a company we cannot finance every Christian work, but I felt the Lord give me a clear directive in the following areas:

• Support my local fellowship
• Help other Christian works free up finances used on utilities
• Show congregations how they can help at no cost to them
• Help people get out of debt

I am aware that many businesses may try various marketing strategies to get you to use their products or services for a price. We are not one of those businesses. We are here to help fellowships reduce costs not increase them and show them how congregations can help too, without cost to them.

** Let me interject for a second **

You tell me you are not using a marketing strategy to get us to use your products and services.  Ok I’ll believe you for now.  Otherwise, I would have already pressed the delete button.  Continue..

I am also aware that we all get scams from time to time in our email in-box. Should you feel at this stage this may be one of those scams, click here and return a blank email and you will be deleted from our database. Alternatively, you will find all my contact details at the conclusion of this letter along with the option of contacting my pastor for a reference.

For your information we fellowship at ____________, _______, Queensland (east of Brisbane). If you require a reference please let me know and I will send you my pastor?s details.

_____________ has helped many people save money each month on their telecommunications bills. Sometimes as much as 68%, but more typically 20-40%.

If you can imagine for a moment making these savings each month, the savings can then be applied elsewhere in your Christian work.

I am conscious that this might not sound much, but it does add up especially when you add to it our option of any person or business within your fellowship who also joins _____________, not only will we provide good discounted rates for them too, we will give to your fellowship each and every month 20% of our profits from the accounts of those in your fellowship involved in the program.

I would like if possible the opportunity of sharing more with you if you are interested.

I will honour you and your fellowship and not contact you personally unless you invite me to do so.

So let me understand this correctly - you are not one of those business using marketing strategy to get me to use your products and services.  Your products and services are so good that you are doing me a favour by telling me about them?

This is the eternal blindness of the “Spammer”.  Yes, this is spam, and illegal in Australia.

Marketing no-no’s aside - I’ll leave that to Seth Godin for now - this email irks me for a couple of reasons.

First, this well meaning person (and I do believe he is well meaning) suggests that his company deserves my attention because he is doing for the sake of the Gospel.  He started business for the sake of raising money to help others and/or the cause of Christ.  After asking him the question by return email exactly to what degree the company supports the Gospel, he assures me that he keeps all the profits, less what he tithes to his local congregation (I am guessing he means 10% of the gross profits) and whatever else he feels directed to give.

So, if you look at only the part of his business that he is promoting here (which is only a small portion of his business activity) we have:

Gross profits (100%) - Tithe (10%) - Giving (perhaps 10%) - Commission to my church (20%) =  his profits (60%)

So it’s not entirely set up to fund the Gospel.  That’s fine.  But don’t allude otherwise.  You are a Christian running a business (like myself and many others), but you don’t run a “Christian business”.  This is the unfortunate attitude of many ‘Kingdom business” people - I can aim to get rich doing business, but as long as I give some of the money away, I can call it a ministry and expect God to bless it. 

My second, and more concerning issue here is the viewing of the Church as a marketplace.  Fair enough, we all pay a phone bill and switching to you may save me money that I would have to pay anyway (but I am still paying them money - let’s be clear on this).  Even better than that, the church itself will make some money from it.

Please explain to me how this is any different to the sellers and money changers described in John Chapter 2?  They were providing a service that the worshippers would have had to use anyway, and the temple would have been certain to be receiving a cut of the profits (the priesthood were all Jews). 

“Take these things away from here! Do not make my Father’s house a marketplace!”

That goes for you too, Koorong.

I’ve offered the gentlemen in question the right of reply, as anyone has around here.

 Rip-off from Stephen at neurotribe.net

For I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink. So we found a water table and drilled a well. But Coca Cola Amatil came to our city and outbid us for access to our own water. They use it to make your Coca Cola. They outbid us with the profits they made from selling you their product.

I was imprisoned in my own country, so I fled in desperation with nothing except the money that I was able to get in exchange for everything I ever owned. I managed to get to your country, even though the people smugglers told me I was going to England! When I got to your country, you put me into another prison. Except you call yours a detention centre?

I was naked, and you did not clothe me. So we had to find work in order to buy our own clothes. I found work, in a factory. I worked every day from 7am till 9pm with very few breaks, 7 days a week. It was hard work. I rarely got to see my family, life was very hard. This kind of life made me very sad. The factory I worked in made clothes that were sold to you.

I was sick. I agonized as many of my family, friends and especially the children in my community die from things like diarrhoea and simple infections. I was afraid I would die in this horrible way too. Day after day, month after month, year after year. This happened whilst every now and then, you would give thanks to your God for your health.

I was homeless and I read in one of your Christian books that if I applied myself and worked hard enough, I could have whatever I could conjure up enough faith for. I have been praying and believing for a home for my family. I cannot wait for God to answer that prayer.

I was lonely, hoping for someone to visit. Often I saw your aeroplanes flying overhead. I suspect that you were probably on your way to London, or Paris to see things that were very important and special.

You seemed so blessed with so many things. You must be very holy for God to bless you with so many good things. I am still very hungry and lonely and cold.

 

Technorati Tags: hunger, justice, bible

I’m off to the UNOH conference today.   I am greatly looking forward to it, as there are some great speakers, it will be a great environment, and I really respect the  work of UNOH.

So before I get caught up in it all, I just want to say that I a little dismayed at the money changing hands this weekend.  Not specifically at UNOH, because I understand to pull off an event like this it takes money, but at a Christian culture that demands such an event.  I guess I am included in that.

I don’t know if I have an answer, or that God agrees with me on this, but if it costing us $350 as a family - and we are doing it cheap - then any quick calculation would work out the budget.  And one most weekends, somewhere, a Christian group will be holding an event such as this. What else could be done with that money?

I’m just wondering if we could do it another way.  Perhaps meet in a big field and sleep in tents.  Be content with local speakers.  Do it over the Internet.  Again, I don’t know but perhaps it does deserve some thought.

Fortune favours those who with discipline and hard work rise up above the crowd - they will achieve anything they desire.

Fortune favours those who push aside negative thoughts.  A laugh a day keeps the troubles away. 

Fortune favours those that claim their destiny.  Nothing shall stand in their way.  They shall find power and prosperity.

Fortune favours those that follow their dreams and desires passionately, pushing aside all others.  They will surely be fulfilled.

Fortune favours those who do not let others hold them back.. They learn to cut ties with those who absorb their time, energy and emotions.  They will find friends amongst leaders.

Fortune favours those who seek the good things in life.  They shall find pleasures beyond the wildest imagination.

Fortune favours those who fight their way to the top.  They stand against their competition and win at all costs.  They will be rulers of many.

Fortune favours those that do not let others bring them down.  They understand that they are too valuable as a person to allow others to treat them badly.  They triumph over adversity

Those around you will be in awe of your success, health and wealth when you find your dream and stick to it at all costs.  You will win!  You will find prosperity, happiness and fame in your life.  It is the secret of those who have been successful, and it can happen to you too!

Matthew 5:1-11 (CSV*)

* “Contemporary Screwy Version” 

Anamrae: celtic, “Soul Space”

Spent a great weekend away in an attempt to assist Kel and Mr X build their house on their property.  We’d never met them before, except through Kel’s Blog.

I love what they are doing.  Yes, they are building their own home, but every decision they make in doing so revolves around how they will be able to use the property to bless and accomodate others.  And what a blessing it will be.

It is a magnificent property (for what used to be a cow paddock).  The property is on the water’s edge, and over the lake you can see mountains in the distance.  It reminded me a great deal of the view from our previous home in Tassie.  And the silence!

Louisa and I had the opportunity to take Kel’s prayer walk.  Particularly inspiring for us was the station on “water walking”.

We talk the walk out to the station which is at seat right out on the water’s edge.  It is slightly in flood at the moment, and to get there, it meant wet feet.

But well worth it.  Stunning view, and the prayer, which reads:

Here we are father
Your apprentice water walkers,
Stepping out in faith
For new beginnings
And expanded borders
Help us to remember that
With our eyes fixed on you,
And some wet feet,
All things are possible.

Some times we need encouragement like that.

The island that Anamrae in situated on is abounding with Koalas.  So much so, that some of the trees are stripped bare in a striking way, killing the trees.  Guess there is a lesson to be learned there on bio-sustainability.

What amazed me is that we rode our bikes to the property, and would have ridden under at least a dozen koalas along the path.  Never saw them, until we were looking for them, and they were then hard to miss.

On the work we did - it didn’t feel like we helped much.  But I guess building a house is such a long process that a couple of day’s work is only a small portion.  But I helped put up these plaster batons.  I’m an expert at that now, if anyone needs some help putting batons up?

And finally the train trip home.  Listening to sigur rós while the sun set.  Great way to finish this weekend.