The greatest royal psalm, Psalm 89, juxtaposes 37 verses of celebration of the wonderful things God will do through the Davidic king with 14 verses asking plaintively why it’s all gone wrong. The psalm ends with a single verse, blessing YHWH forever. That is the classic Old Testament picture. Here are the promises; here is the problem; God remains sovereign over the paradox. Split the psalm up, either way, and you fail to catch the flavour of the entire corpus of biblical writing. God’s solution to the problem of evil, the esablishment of the Davidic monarchy through which Israel will at last be the light to nations, the bringer of justice to the world, comes already complete with a sense of puzzlement and failure, a sense that the plan isn’t working in the way it should, that the only thing to do is to hold the spectacular promises in one hand the messy reality in the other and praise YHWH anyway.
(c) N.T. Wright. Evil and the Justice of God. London, Great Britain: SPCK, 2006.
November 17th, 2009How to Be Happy in Life: Fruit Salad
May 7th, 2009This is what you need: A crap day, an apple, a mandarine, a banana, some grapes and a little bit of pomegranade. So, do you know those days when everything is just stupid? Like, you can’t sing because your throat hurts and you might have an infection, and you’re reminded every 10 minutes because you forget and you usually sing all the time. To turn it all around you start by peeling the fruit. Except the apple, ’cause why would you peel an apple? Continue by cutting them into your favourite shapes that make you really happy and excited to eat it soon. Like the apple, which is hard, in little tiny pieces but the grapes and mandarine pieces just in halves because they are soft and delicious. It all makes sense.. Of course you cut it all directly into the bowl to avoid any dishwashing apart from the knife. Because I don’t like dishwashing. Then you pour a whole lot of vanilla custard on top of it. By now you feel a whole lot better and you start singing and you’re reminded you’re not supposed to do that.. Then you let it sit for a few minutes while you walk upstairs to get sticky tape to seal the vanilla custard box. Because vanilla custard is precious. And then you side this deliciousness with a cup of apple juice you were only able to buy because Caroline gave you a lift home. Gratefulness wells up inside of you and you ask God to bless her. Then you realise that your life is amazing and you have so many great people around. You thank God. Silently of course because you can’t sing.. Who cares? God’s amazing whether I can sing about it or not. There you go: Happy (:
Theodore Roosevelt. The Man in the Arena. Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, France. April 23, 1910.
May 3rd, 2009It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. [The speech in its entirety can be found here]
(c) Christine Caine. Stop Acting Like a Christian, Just Be One. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2007.
April 7th, 2009Imagine if every single person who proclaimed themselves to be Christian spent every day loving God with all their heart, all their soul and all their mind, and if every single one loved their neighbour as themselves. What if this love was the motivating factor behind every prayer we prayed, every word we uttered, every interaction we had, every thought we thought and every action we took? Think on the tremendous effect we would have on our towns, cities and nations. One by one, with arms linked, we would form an undeniably strong army whose voice could not be ignored. Our presence would impact our culture and government. We would be a voice for the poor, marginalized and depressed, righting wrongs and fighting injustice. We would revolutionize the face of our media, education system, economy and environment. We would see the lost come home, eager to taste for themselves the goodness of God they have seen in Christians around them. Selah.
Rehearsal in the City
March 25th, 2009We had classes as usual at the start of the day. I was done 13.30 (: Vely nice. Then 19.30 we had choir practice in the City. The bus left from Church 18.00. I got a little bored on the way there, so I ended up taking some photos. The sunset was breathtaking. No way this lousy capture does it justice. But it’s still nice though. The second picture is one of the Syndey from the Harbour Bridge. I think! Some bridge at least. The third is just a random red front door of a church that Bekah wanted me to take a picture of (: I think it expressed love. “Good on you, Bekah.” She is so lovely. Then the last picture is of my dinner. After the rehearsal I was so hungry I got McDonald’s, but the driver didn’t allow us to take it on the bus. So I had to sneak it on and eat it when I got home.. Yep. Another day in the life I Anna is over. Good night. Hehe, it’s still Tuesday back home. They are way behind. d:
The Food Day
March 23rd, 2009I have been cooking all night. My Mum would be so proud. “Fløtegratinerte” potatoes and leek frittata. Yum (: I’m getting ready for Conference on Wednesday. Making sure I have nothing else to do when I get home than brush my teeth and go to bed. What has your day been like? I hope you got to eat because food is seriously amazing. Amen.
Churchday
March 23rd, 2009Another Sunday is over, I can’t believe it. Tomorrow is my day off. Praise God. I will relax and get ready for Colour Conference. It’s really late and I want to sleep. But just wanted to give you these words as I do. The last few days have been .. challenging I guess you could call them. But God is with me and I need not fear. “Because You’re with me I will not fear. Most Holy.”
Powerhouse Afterparty
March 21st, 2009Jeg skrev nettopp en lang post, men den forsvant av en eller annen grunn. Nå har jeg nettopp kommet jeg fra Powerhouse Dessertparty. Det var kjempekoselig. Vi var ca. 40 stykker som var hos Rachel og Steve Mawston etter kirka i kveld, de er pastorer på Hillsong. Vi hadde is, kjeks, gelé og vaniljesaus, chips også lagde jeg noen muffins (bilde). “Kjære mamma. Jeg var veldig flink og rydda opp etter meg. Jeg har lagt ved et bilde bare for din skyld. Takk for at du lærte meg godt opp.” Stillhet er veldig deilig egentlig når du har hatt folk rundt deg hele dagen. Litt uvant nesten. Men jeg liker stillhet. Den er behagelig og avslappende og krever ingen engasjement. Jeg vil ikke ha det sånn hele tida, men akkurat nå var det deilig. Okei, jeg er klar for senga. Skal nok få sove godt. Det må du også. Gud velsigne deg. God natt.
Keytars Are Interesting Creatures
March 21st, 2009Just a few photos from my day. The first is my teacher with his incredible keytar. Love it. The next one is just a random shot from the Pacific Islander Extension Service where I serve on Friday nights. (It’s Cheizi’s hair in the down left corner. Love her hair.) Then the last picture is a guy from my house mates class, Jeff, from North Carolina. Yes, he is posing with Sherena’s scarf.. He’s a funny guy, I haven’t laughed this much in a long time (:
Fridays
March 20th, 2009Fridays are probably my busiest days.. I have no more than 30 minutes breaks from 08:30-22:30. I love it! Now I’ve gotta hurry to class but here’s a pic of my beautiful friend Caroline. Posing as a teacher that is. Have a good day and I’ll write again soon. With my iPhone! (I’ll shut up about it in two weeks or so)
