mylie cyrus is not sustainable - ACT NOW before it is too late.

Don’t memorize, internalize. – David Brooks
Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent. – Dionysius Of Halicarnassus
Learning is directly proportional to the amount of fun you have. – Robert Pike
Always be shorter than anybody dared to hope. – Lord Reading
Grasp the subject, the words will follow. – Cato the Elder

i have just finished a week's worth of theological lectures and thought it would be interesting to run myself through the theological world view checker again.

last time it turned out I was Wesleyan. now i'm post-modern, with a tipping of the hat to Barth. not sure why though. i guess i am still emerging...so Gen X.

here is what it gave me (percentages from last time are in brackets):

What's your theological worldview: Emergent/Postmodern

Emergent/Postmodern     75% (61%)
Neo orthodox      75% (64%)
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan     75% (79%)
Charismatic/Pentecostal      54% (57%)
Modern Liberal     46% (36%)
Classical Liberal     46% (46%)
Reformed Evangelical     29% (46%)
Roman Catholic     11% (29%)
Fundamentalist     11% (14%)

in the church circles in which i roll, it has been common practice to be active: take notes, sit on the edge of your seat and say 'amen' a lot. ha!

anyhow, today kristy spoke about 'rest' and how it is a crucial element to a balanced life. and to her credit, told us to rest while we listened to the talk.

it was such a nice change from the norm. and really refreshing, too.

I read a quote about the way an enslaved people group interpreted Scripture in the face of a dilemma: slavery within a 'christian' society.

• The institution of slavery, while not outlawed in the Bible, was diametrically opposed to the vision of the Christian community as a place without distinction between 'slave' or 'free'. The tension was resolved by promoting an understanding of Christian freedom as an internal moral condition that did not automatically guarantee release from physical, legal or social bondage. (in Jesus Dub, Beckford)

according to pierce brosnan, there is more to life than making films. like fighting for the causes i believe in and finding time for myself

it is so easy to neglect our skin - aint that true, men? it is also easy to forget our relationship with God. i worry about how will i find the time to focus on God?

rather than having to work out how to make time for God in my busy schedule, i need to remember that God is with me everywhere. especially when i am riding bareback along a deserted beach.

Some stolen ideas, some others found, all cobbled together to produce this collection of thoughts on identity:

We live in a consumer culture. We are surrounded with this culture.
But we may be unaware of this culture's impact on how we live our lives and expect it to work.

We define ourselves by what we do
We identify ourselves by what we consume
Or a bit of both

i just wanted to stick up some thoughts about conflicting identity sources:

• some people define themselves by things they produce
• some people define themselves by things they consume
• some people are stuck in the middle with a conflicting source of self identity: unhappy with their job so they consume things to validate their identity - often going into debt to do so. thereby locking themselves further to the pay from a job that they are unhappy with.

most people are aware of their responsibility to love. to contribute to community.
to give to others. embrace sisterhood, the brotherhood of man, the human race, the global village or whatever.

compassionate people, religious folk and the guy selling the green left weekly at newtown station are all advocates for human beings as agents of love.

but what is it like to be on the other side - on the side that is being pursued in love?

i love you.

...'insecure, worthless, flattered, humble' - mixed emotions.
do you think “if only you knew what i was really like, you’d never choose me”?
we seem to search for an ulterior motive.
we try to justify why we should not be chosen.

while we desire acceptance we reserve the right to reject the hand extended to us. and often we choose to be rejected.

so what do you feel when we are confronted with an offer of genuine acceptance,

    of love,

        inclusion.

is your default response to reject the offer?
maybe we are so out of practice that we just need to let ourselves get used to the fact that some people are polite, genuine and concerned.

let someone love you. it might be the closest you’ll get to experiencing God.

fluffing the apple store sydney from multistory on Vimeo. there was a lot of pointless cheering as the mac-daddies entered the apple store in sydney on opening night...

...plus i was told that i looked like a jewish theologian.