Paul Long's Ramblings

Time for a break. Downloaded the photos on my camera ... Andrew's car ... when I first picked it up View from the rear Front seats Back seats Al Ronberg of PSSM and 2nd city Bec Little leading worship - nice touch with a special song and  lesson for the younger ones With us older ones too joining in ... learning the actions And singing along. ... Took this yesterday ... happy that my coriander and galangal made it through winter and thrived too My "dwarf" lemon tree I bought a month ago George Booth - ex OM NZ director and a regular speaker at our church Jin Wan's commissioning service (as a deacon) Did a quick turnover cum weeding of my planter box in preparation for new planting season. No matter what I do, some potato plants will still pop up from a couple of potatoes I planted 2 years ago. Hardy plants so thought I might as well replant them. And my taro plants. Lookin...

A simple but challenging article  Link ...  http://christiancentury.org/blogs/archive/2011-08/charity-vs-politics CENTURY BLOG Charity vs. politics? Aug 23, 2011  by  Steve Thorngate Marilyn Sewell  raises  a familiar subject: Churches almost always prefer charity to justice. Let's take, for example, the question of hunger. Churches find it easier to open a soup kitchen, rather than lobby politicians or put pressure on government to feed hungry people or help them get jobs. . . . What's wrong with this picture? To effect change, churches must move beyond charity to justice, changing the economic and political systems that keep people impoverished. Along with the fact that charity is simply easier, Sewell names three additional reasons churches often avoid pursuing justice: Charity is less controversial than politics. People fear that political advocacy will threaten a church's tax-exempt status. (It won't, unless they're endorsing candidates.) Pol...

On Monday, my wife and I attended the funeral service of our good neighbour who passed away from cancer. First time attending a non religious based funeral in NZ conducted by a "funeral celebrant"  Don;t want to blog too much on it except to say that the focus was a "remembrance of her life". And of course as it is usually the case at funerals, it made me reflect again on the subject of "life and death". So it was timely to get this my email from my Henri Nouwen email list (dated Tuesday) The Quality of Life   It is very hard to accept an early death.  When friends die who are seventy, eighty, or ninety years old, we may be in deep grief and miss them very much, but we are grateful that they had long lives.  But when a teenager, a young adult, or a person at the height of his or her career dies, we feel a protest rising from our hearts:  "Why?  Why so soon?  Why so young?  It is unfair." But far more important than our quantity of ye...

This week's Pastor's notes (for 28 August 2011). To read, click HERE 

Interesting and excellent article by a writer who thankfully is a Muslim. My ramblings after her article. From  http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/08/19/malaysia%E2%80%99s-season-for-christian-bashing/ Malaysia’s season for Christian bashing Mariam Mokhtar  | August 19, 2011 So what is it about the Christian faith that scares our political leaders so much? Is it the message of love and forgiveness? COMMENT In recent months, Malaysians have seen a constant drip-drip of Christians being persecuted because they were alleged to want to take over the country, both in mind and in spirit. If we in the east complain that the west is out to demonise Islam, then how different are we from them when any Christian act in Malaysia is seen as a threat to Islam and the Malay race? Do our political leaders seriously imagine that the Malaysian Muslim is so feeble and his soul so tormented, that he is easily influenced by the devil or by the teachings of Jesus Christ? Do they think ...

Been a while since I blogged on personal matters. Got a bit of time between appointments so ... 1. Been doing more cooking the last few months. More therapeutic than gardening especially since it is winter :-) And my drop in unexpectedly to bring some soup or a small hot dish to various church members homes (older members) has been very successful and encouraging and fun. Been experimenting with soups of late as hot soup tastes really good in winter. 2. Signed up as a member of a political party (NZ not Malaysia). First time ever doing this. Which party? I will not answer this question :-) Why? Don't think I should as a pastor. But I do think this would make a difference (at least to me first). I see NZ slowly going down the drain in so many areas that matter to me. Perhaps membership would help? 3. Eldest son now has a car. Bought it with his hard earned money. Good on him! Last sentence I think is grammatically wrong ... but it's a Kiwi things to say "Good on ...

Now this I can identify with .... :-). I have actually seen art work like this years ago in Toronto. 

Thanks Doc!!! PAS REAL TARGET OF JAIS’ RAID: DUMC DISPENSABLE COLLATERAL DAMAGE By nkw PAS REAL TARGET OF JAIS’ RAID: DUMC DISPENSABLE COLLATERAL DAMAGE The war drums beat ominously. The platoons are quickly mobilized for attack. The commanders are confident that their target will be hit and destroyed given numerous artillery salvos. I am not talking about shock and awe in the Iraq war. I am talking about how JAIS and UMNO activists have carefully orchestrated their recent attacks on the Malaysian church after their illegal raid of DUMC. It is easy to be confused, especially when JAIS and UMNO activists deliberately cloud the issues with wild claims, hoping that their illegal transgression of a church will be overlooked and the innocent victim (DUMC) will somehow appear guilty, if accused repeatedly. It does not matter that till now JAIS has failed to produce any credible evidence to support the raid. JAIS seems to operate on the basis that people will end up believing lies s...

Pastor's Notes for the 1`4 August 2011 bulletin To read. click HERE

Pastor's Notes for the 7 August 2011 bulletin To read, click HERE