Paul Long's Ramblings

Just posted up this Sunday's Pastor's notes for the 5th September bulletin. Decided not to do a Fathers Day devotion but carry on the Jeremiah series.  Four parts for chapter 2 and still not finished ... :-) To read, click HERE Btw, father's Day in NZ is in September not June

Interesting .... I am sure you can guess where I stand on this .... August 25, 2010 Mono-Ethnic Ministries and Multi-Ethnic Churches (Part 1) A multi-ethnic church leader responds to the call for more homogeneous churches. by Mark DeYmaz Tom Steers, founder and co-director of Asian American Ministries for The Navigators, recently wrote a guest opinion column for  Christianity Today (July 7, 2010). The column is entitled,  "Needed: More Monocultural Ministries". In the opinion piece ("not necessarily representing the opinion of the publication," as CT makes clear in the footer), Steers argues that a multicultural society demands more  mono cultural ministries. In so doing, however, he does not clearly state what he means by use of the term, “ministry.” Consequently, I believe he a) confuses evangelism with local church development, b) wrongly exegetes Scripture in attempting to support his claim, and otherwise c) speaks from assumption in stating what advocates of...

It has been a busy period for me. And it looks to be just as busy for the next three weeks. So ... it is time once again to "re-center" lest I lose my focus. Chapter 31 of "Spiritual Formation on the Run"  and chapter 40 both seem like ideal chapters to reflect and blog on especially in the light of my current sermon series on Parables of Jesus, the concept of "righteousness" and the theme of "choosing" has been very prominent.  Have been thinking a lot, among other things on these two areas. Anyway, first the chapters ... BEWARE THE DARK SIDE George Lucas' Star Wars: Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith was one of the most awaited summer releases of 2005. The Star Wars movies - six in total - represented a significant milestone in movie making as the computer became as important as the actors and cameras. This futuristic intergalactic war epic started off in the middle of the story with Episode 4-A New Hope. To get an idea of the storyt...

After more than a month of problems with e-mail correspondence, superstar magic legend  Paul Daniel s got my e-mail a few days ago and kindly replied giving me not just the go ahead to publish the interview, but also added a personal note of encouragement! What a man! My thanks to another magic great - this time the New Zealand living legend, Alan Watson for helping me resend my interview transcript. Hehehe. I now have Paul Daniels personal e-mail ...and NO, you can't have it :-) For the interview please go here . Interviewing them was one of the highlights of my magic journey!

Being Ready to Die Death often happens suddenly. A car accident, a plane crash, a fatal fight, a war, a flood, and so on. When we feel healthy and full of energy, we do not think much about our deaths. Still, death might come very unexpectedly. How can we be prepared to die? By not having any unfinished relational business. The question is: Have I forgiven those who have hurt me and asked forgiveness from those I have hurt? When I feel at peace with all the people I live with, my death might cause great grief, but it will not cause guilt or anger.   When we are ready to die at any moment, we also are ready to live at any moment.

A friend sent me this article. I agree that it is interesting to think about and there are so many views. My view for what it is worth is after the article ...  August 25, 2010 Looking at Islamic Center Debate, World Sees U.S. By THANASSIS CAMBANIS For more than two decades, Abdelhamid Shaari has been lobbying a succession of governments in Milan for permission to build a mosque for his congregants — any mosque at all, in any location. For now, he leads Friday Prayer in a stadium normally used for rock concerts. When sites were proposed for mosques in Padua and Bologna, Italy, a few years ago, opponents from the anti-immigrant Northern League paraded pigs around them. The projects were canceled. In that light, the furor over the precise location of  Park51 , the proposed Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan, looks to Mr. Shaari like something to aspire to. “At least in America,” Mr. Shaari said, “there’s a debate.” Across the world, the bruising struggle over a...

Just posted up my latest Pastor's notes for the 29th August 2010 bulletin. To read click HERE

I suppose this will make some label me an "Islamaphobic" (whatever that is) but is this not very disturbing? The Syariah in Malaysia is now openly announced as superior to the civil courts. Syariah Court can decide on religious status Saturday, 21 August 2010 10:33am © The New Straits Times By V. Anbalagan PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal ruled that the Syariah Court is the competent authority to decide the religious status of Muslims and those whose conversion is disputed. It also held that a non-Muslim challenging a conversion could appear in the Syariah Court to set side any order. Court of Appeal judge Datuk Zainun Ali who delivered the unanimous decision in dismissing the appeal by S. Kaliammal, the widow of M. Moorthy, said a High Court in 2005 was right in declining to hear the widow's application on grounds that it lacked jurisdiction. Zainun said when a question arises whether one was a Muslim or not, "it is our view that the legislature has, ...

Our Poverty, God's Dwelling Place How can we embrace poverty as a way to God when everyone around us wants to become rich? Poverty has many forms. We have to ask ourselves: "What is my poverty?" Is it lack of money, lack of emotional stability, lack of a loving partner, lack of security, lack of safety, lack of self-confidence? Each human being has a place of poverty. That's the place where God wants to dwell! "How blessed are the poor," Jesus says (Matthew 5:3). This means that our blessing is hidden in our poverty. We are so inclined to cover up our poverty and ignore it that we often miss the opportunity to discover God, who dwells in it. Let's dare to see our poverty as the land where our treasure is hidden. ------- Made me also think of this song ... You are my strength when I am weak You are the treasure that I seek You are my all in all Seeking You like a precious jewel Lord, to give up I'd be a fool You are my all in all Jesu...

This time a good day of fruitful multi-tasking labour ... :-)

I dream of a day like this! :-) I am planning for a day like this in December 2010!

I thank God time and time again for Henri Nouwen's insights. This really rings through, doesn't it? Clinging to God in Solitude When we enter into solitude to be with God alone, we quickly discover how dependent we are. Without the many distractions of our daily lives, we feel anxious and tense. When nobody speaks to us, calls on us, or needs our help, we start feeling like nobodies. Then we begin wondering whether we are useful, valuable, and significant. Our tendency is to leave this fearful solitude quickly and get busy again to reassure ourselves that we are "somebodies." But that is a temptation, because what makes us somebodies is not other people's responses to us but God's eternal love for us. To claim the truth of ourselves we have to cling to our God in solitude as to the One who makes us who we are.

Posted up this Sunday's Pastor's notes. To read click HERE

Another gem and timely reminder from Henri Nouwen. Especially in this busy period for me .... The Hidden Life of Jesus The largest part of Jesus' life was hidden. Jesus lived with his parents in Nazareth, "under their authority" (Luke 2:51), and there "increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and with people" (Luke 2:52). When we think about Jesus we mostly think about his words and miracles, his passion, death, and resurrection, but we should never forget that before all of that Jesus lived a simple, hidden life in a small town, far away from all the great people, great cities, and great events. Jesus' hidden life is very important for our own spiritual journeys. If we want to follow Jesus by words and deeds in the service of his Kingdom, we must first of all strive to follow Jesus in his simple, unspectacular, and very ordinary hidden life.

Dr. Alex posted this article (below) on his blog . Allow me to ramble on a bit before you read the article (basically interesting statistics). I found it very timely as one of my added roles this year is to be a supervisor for a church  intern - someone in my church who is studying at a Bible College and focusing on youth ministry. She''s studying at a College called Pathways where the motto is 50% study, 50% ministry and 100% relevant in the real world. Tough motto to try and live up to, don't you think! But I digress ... Point is that the practical ministry side is literally as important as the academic side. Now that I know how to search my blog (I digress yet again), I recall blogging aspects of this practical ministry side HERE  (if you are curious). Anyway ... one of the issues I have been grappling with my intern is what I consider the huge difference between being an active church lay leader (in any department) and being in full time church based ministry. And ...

Another excellent piece by Dr. Tawfik Hamid that is not hard to comply with if one truly is moderate Is Your Local Mosque 'Moderate' or 'Radical'? (Please circulate) Ask the Imams of Mosques, the Muslim leaders, and the Islamic organizations in the US and worldwide to sign this declaration (See below)    by Tawfik Hamid  www.tawfikhamid.com      After the problem of Ground Zero Mosque has escalated it becomes an urgent necessity to distinguish 'Moderate' from 'Radical' Islam. Without making such a distinction the US and the rest of the world will remain divided regarding this issue. Debates about the issue can be endless unless we define the words 'radical' and 'moderate'. Mosque leaders, Islamic scholars, and organizations who want to be considered Moderates MUST clearly and unambiguously declare the following declaration in their media outlets and on their websites. I suggest that you send this declaration to Mosque leaders and the...

Just posted up my latest Pastor's Notes. To read, click HERE

Another excellent and reasonable article by a Muslim scholar. A Challenge to the Ground Zero Mosque Leaders by Tawfik Hamid  www.tawfikhamid.com        Controversy is heating up on plans for building a giant 15-story Islamic community center and mosque on Ground Zero.   Journalist Thomas Friedman and many others including New York's mayor consider the building of a mosque proof of American tolerance that will have positive impact on the Muslim world.   Yet others, myself included, say to the contrary that Radical Muslims and their sympathizers want to raise the giant mosque as a sign of victory of the Jihadists over the US.    Such a mosque would signal to the Islamic world that Jihadists' overt and covert attacks against America and its interests are succeeding and should be continued. Allowing the erection of a Ground Zero Mosque would enable Jihadists to extend their narrative of success:    "First our 9-11 attacks destroyed ...

Got to quickly post this up ... from Out of UR. Just noticed it. Down with the Homogeneous Unit Principle? Can we call our church model “biblical” if we’re not reaching out to everyone? by David Swanson Ninety-five percent African American, five percent other.  These are the demographics of the Chicago neighborhood where our three-month-old church has been planted. I am “other.” White. One hundred percent white. As the pastor of this young church plant, I have lost sleep over these percentages. Most of the church planting models and examples I’ve been exposed to are very different from my current cross-cultural experience. In the recent past, the Homogeneous Unit Principle (HUP) was viewed positively as the rationale for starting churches of demographically similar people. This principle states that it is easier for people to become Christians when they must cross few or no racial, linguistic, or class barriers. Ideally, then, these new churches were led by pastors whose culture...