A Deconstructed Christian

Wordpress, here I come!

2008-04-14T09:51:00.002+10:00

So, this is it. I am now blogging only at Wordpress. Comments here have been turned off.

You can find my Wordpress blog, along with all the archives and comments, at deconstructedchristian.wordpress.com/. The new RSS feed is http://deconstructedchristian.wordpress.com/feed/.

So head on over to Wordpress and join in the conversation!

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Happy Bloggy Birthday To Me

2008-04-14T09:50:00.000+10:00

Happy birthday to me. I have been told I'm nerdy for celebrating my bloggy birthday (thanks Rach), but do I care? Never!

I am happily celebrating with virtual cake and champagne. Yes, virtual. I can't waste actual calories on virtual celebrations, now, can I?

So I will say "many happy blogs to me" and enjoy my day. There's nothing wrong with having two birthdays a year in my opinion! :-D

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In The Light

2008-04-12T12:10:00.002+10:00

I keep trying to find a life
On my own apart from You
I am the king of excuses
I've got one for every selfish thing I do

What's going on inside of me?
I despise my own behavior
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That I'm still a girl* in need of a Savior

The disease of self runs through my blood
It's a cancer fatal to my soul
Every attempt on my behalf has failed
To bring the sickness under control

I want to be in the light, as you are in the light
I want to shine like the stars in the heavens
Lord, be my light and be my salvation
All I want is to be in the light
All I want is to be in the light
- Charlie Peacock

What is it about this song that resonates so clearly? I'm so imperfect, yet so forgiven. So underserving, and yet I have been given freedom. All I want to do is be in the light, the gaze of Jesus, and I have every right to be there. But at every turn I know I don't deserve it.

It's like a tug of war within the soul: "I have salvation" "It's undeserved" "His grace has been extended to me" "It's undeserved" "My sins are covered" "It's undeserved" "I have conversation with God" "It's undeserved" "My soul runs with rivers of living water" "It's undeserved"

All this God knows. He knows every part of me. And still he loves me.

I despise my own behaviour.

Yet I am free? I am free.

I feel like the woman at the well.

Lord, be my light. I can't illuminate myself.

*Original lyrics: "man"

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The end - and the beginning!

2008-04-09T12:02:00.004+10:00

It's my blogiversary on Monday of next week. Yay for a whole year of blogging! How fast it's gone. In light of that, I decided that now is the perfect time to make my Blogger/Wordpress decision. Wordpress it is. As of now, my posts will be published over there first (as my primary blog), and I will copy here when I have time. After publishing my blogiversary post here on Monday I will completely close comments on this blog.

So - the nuts and bolts: I am now at deconstructedchristian.wordpress.com/. The new RSS feed is http://deconstructedchristian.wordpress.com/feed/.

If you keep up with this blog via a reader, please take this opportunity to update your feed. For those who have links on their sidebars, please update those too so you're not sending people on wild goose chases. :-)

Thank you so much for keeping me company on this journey. My biggest fear with this switch is that I will lose touch with people who comment on my blog. I appreciate every single one of you, and I look forward to hearing from you when I move. There's a lot more deconstructing to do yet - the journey's nowhere near done.

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If you liked this post, please consider a small donation to Kidslink. Every little bit helps to save and improve the lives of destitute children.

What is Freedom In Christ?

2008-04-09T11:45:00.000+10:00

This was the title (and substance) of a fantastic question posed by Jon over at Something Else.

It got me thinking more. Which got me commenting. Then Ruth suggested I blog about it.

My comment was:

I've actually been thinking a bit about this lately. Where does freedom in Christ cross over to an excuse to do our own thing without consequences?

I think I found it in Colossians and Romans. We should follow our conscience. We know when we're doing wrong. It's inbuilt inside of us. Freedom in Christ is to do what we know is right without fear of judgement. It's to give others the freedom to do the same. But with the freedom comes the other side of the coin: responsibility. We are free to do, but we are responsible to love. We are free to eat and drink, but we are responsible to give and share what we have. We are free to dance and sing and live with abandon, but we are responsible to stand up for the rights of others to be similarly free. We are free to accept the full grace of God, but we are responsible to share this good news.

When it's all executed as God planned, it's a beautiful thing.

So. Freedom. Currently all around the world, thousands are protesting to free Tibet. We get very upset when freedoms are taken away. What is so important about it?

Freedom is a word we like to shout from the rooftops. It's a basic human right. It's a protest word. It's the chant of the oppressed. It's subversive - very, very subversive. And it is one of the biggest promises of following Christ, the consequence of knowing the truth - knowing God.

So what is this freedom? Is it the freedom to behave however we like? No. Churches are chastened by Paul and the other apostles for using freedom in Christ as a scapegoat for their terrible behaviour. We are free from many things. A huge list, in fact. Sin, the (OT) law, fear, worry, spiritual blindness, and so much more. Paul is an absolute believer in freedom in Christ. Romans 8 reads as a freedom chapter. 1 Corinthians and Galatians 5 talk about the flip side of our freedom. Peter also reminds us of our freedoms and responsibilities.

Yes, we are free. We are sublimely free. But let's not forget the other side of the coin: we are so, so responsible. To be free can be summed up by this statement: to both love and be loved ridiculously, ceaselessly and completely.

What glorious freedom that is.

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Wordpress?

2008-04-04T14:19:00.004+11:00

I am experimenting. I have found blogger a little, um, messy and missing some important bits & pieces, so I've been having a play with Wordpress. I've imported all of my posts from here to there. Have a little look-see and tell me what you think! Don't stress, I'll still be blogging here for now, I'll just give both a try for a while and see which one I enjoy more before I make up my mind.

Head over to http://deconstructedchristian.wordpress.com and check it out.

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I am rebelling against my own verbosity

2008-04-03T16:49:00.002+11:00

Just to prove it, here is a very short post :-)

I've been pondering this quote today:

An authentic life is the most personal form of worship. Everyday life has become my prayer.

- Sarah Ban Breathnach

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I am verbose!

2008-04-03T14:07:00.001+11:00

Although my husband could have told you that.

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If you liked this post, please consider a small donation to Kidslink. Every little bit helps to save and improve the lives of destitute children.

Zip-a-de-Google, Zip-a-de-ay

2008-03-28T14:35:00.005+11:00

Those weird and wonderful Google search terms just keep on rolling in.

- Heather's Husband - I got me one of those!
- i am completely in love, she is an incredible woman was said by who - Certainly not me. However, if you want to give my husband tips... :-D
- something odd - Finally, a search term that actually fits this site!
- a born again christian who sleeps with too many women - Well if you're looking for one, I can't help. If you are one, you could try something. Stop sleeping with too many women. Works a treat.
- get out of jail prayer - Perhaps you could try paying bail? Getting a lawyer?
- lucaslabrador bigot - Agreed.
- john butler minus dreads - I'm pretty sure he doesn't come that way.
- why are fundamental baptists so judgemental? - Lots and lots of practice.
- old depraved extreme woman - I don't think I am so far. But give me a few years and check back.

And my favourite:
what does ro-shum-baa-kaa-l-le'-lo-cee mean

I'm not positive, but I think it's something along the lines of "Pass the parmesan". That could come in handy some day.

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If you liked this post, please consider a small donation to Kidslink. Every little bit helps to save and improve the lives of destitute children.

A WHAT????

2008-03-28T13:33:00.004+11:00

I can soooo imagine Jesus doing this - celebrating Easter with Krispy Kreme, Starbucks and a very large elephant. As the old saying goes, "There's nothing like a holy pachyderm to get the message across".

What, there is no old saying like that? Well there damn well should be, that's all I can say.

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Love so amazing, so divine

2008-03-28T10:20:00.003+11:00

We sang this hymn in our gathering on Easter Sunday. I can't get it out of my head, especially the last two lines. How can something written over three hundred years ago in a very different time and place impact me so much?

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God,
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down,
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

- Isaac Watts, 1707

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Velvet Elvis 2

2008-03-26T11:04:00.003+11:00

It's been a while, but here is my second post about Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. The first post is here if you missed it.

I wanted to highlight Rob's opinion on the "Christian" label:

The Bible is filled with stories of God teaching people how to think. How to discern. How to sort and sift and figure out what is true and what isn’t. What is good and what isn’t. What brings life and what brings death.

Being a Christian is about engaging the mind and heart more and more, not shutting them off or letting someone else think for you. The writer Peter urged Christians to be alert. Paul tells his listeners in Thessalonica to test everything and hold on to the good.

The danger of labeling things “Christian” is that it can lead to our blindly consuming things we have been told are safe and acceptable. When we turn off this discernment radar, dangerous things can happen. We have to test everything.

We seem to label things as "Christian" just because they're written by a Christian, performed by a Christian, show Christian values or can be purchased at a Christian bookstore. Rob highlights how ridiculous this is - there is no "Christian" and "Secular". What we do as followers of Jesus is automatically holy because we have done it. Our jobs are not "Secular", they are what we are doing in the name of Jesus. Ditto music, whether it earns the title "Christian" or not. Performing, catching up with friends, whatever. It is not "Christian" because it is specifically about Christ, it is holy because Christ is holy and he is in us. It's the duality of our own thought processes that make the distinction.

We are taught in the Bible to test things. See what is good, and take hold of it. Discard the rest. It's our own personal responsibility to do that, regardless of the label. If we choose to discard the good, we can only lose. Ditto if we choose to hold onto the bad. But we should never turn our brains off because of a label.

I discussed another side of this same issue last year in a related post about Dualism.

Any thoughts?

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Happy Easter!

2008-03-20T16:23:00.003+11:00

Here's wishing you a very blessed Easter as we remember what started all this deconstruction: the grace of God shown through Jesus.

May your weekend be spent with those you love, and in honour of God, who loved you first.

Now, enough with the serious stuff. Here's a bit of silliness before I go:

You Act Like You Are 32 Years Old

You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more!

You're responsible, wise, and have enough experience to understand a lot of the world.

You're at the point in your life where you understand yourself pretty well.

You are figuring out what you want... and how to get it!

What Age Do You Act?

That's just great. I act three years older than I actually am. *pouts*

I think the pouting just put me back a year or two though. :-D

See you on the flip side!

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Peace and surrender

2008-03-20T12:24:00.003+11:00

Surrender. It's the most difficult thing to do when you're a control freak like me. Everything inside of me screams "NO! Fight!", even when I know what God has for me is infinitely better. I have to learn to stop the fighting, to stop the pointless arguments that go around and around in my head.

Peace.

Easier said than done? Maybe.

Surrender don't come natural to me
I'd rather fight You for something I don't really want
Than to take what You give that I need
And I've beat my head against so many walls
I'm falling down, I'm falling on my knees

And this Salvation Army band is playing this hymn
And Your grace rings out so deep
It makes my resistance seem so thin

Oh, hold me Jesus, I'm shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won't You be my Prince of Peace

- Rich Mullins (I listen to the Rebecca St James version)

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If you liked this post, please consider a small donation to Kidslink. Every little bit helps to save and improve the lives of destitute children.

Donate buttons

2008-03-19T12:14:00.011+11:00

I have decided to use this blog to make money. No, not for me. I have set up Paypal buttons to allow readers to donate to Kidslink International. They are a fantastic charity, and I can promise that 100% of what you donate will go towards projects in third world countries (especially Mozambique) that directly improve the lives of children. From now on (and retrospectively since the first post of this year) every blog post will contain a donate button.

Please don't feel compelled to give, that is not my intention. I just know what Kidslink deserves my support and this is one tiny thing I can do to help. Every cent counts, and in Mozambique every cent is worth a lot more than it is here in the western world.

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If you liked this post, please consider a small donation to Kidslink. Every little bit helps to save and improve the lives of destitute children.

Even More PostSecret And More Messiness

2008-03-13T15:05:00.014+11:00

Oh yes I'm addicted.

Actually, this one came out of reading Messy Spirituality.

It's entitled "Messy".

(Previous PostSecret videos are at here, here and here if you missed them.

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If you liked this post, please consider a small donation to Kidslink. Every little bit helps to save and improve the lives of destitute children.

A word from John

2008-03-13T15:05:00.013+11:00

In the closets of my mind
I have thoughts unfit for swine
Secrets that I dare not tell
You know them well
'Neath a veil of innocence
I disguise my decadence
But somehow You see through it all
And love me still, You love me still
Even in my darkest hour
You display Your mercy's power
Since I met You, I've discovered
Can't get away, can't get away from Your love
I may run and I may hide but You will seek and You will find
I can't get away, can't get away from Your love
- John Schlitt

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Comes with far too much blogging...

2008-03-13T15:05:00.012+11:00

74 words

I am so cool.

:-D

(HT: Messy Christian, who is seven words per minute cooler than me.)

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If you liked this post, please consider a small donation to Kidslink. Every little bit helps to save and improve the lives of destitute children.

Messy is good!

2008-03-11T14:54:00.003+11:00

I have finished Messy Spirituality by Mike Yaconelli.

All I can say is, if you haven't read it, add it to your 'must read' list immediately! I honestly think it's the most real and down to earth commentary on Jesus and the ways of the Kingdom of God that I've ever read.

The book is basically a collection of stories about real people, interspersed with principles. I love the fact that Mike isn't the pastor of a large, growing, thriving, perfect-on-the-outside congregation like most of those who write books about the christian life. I absolutely celebrate the fact that he is instead a part of a small, messy, honest and very real congregation.

Some of the principles in the book turn everything on its head. (Isn't that what a certain carpenter from Nazareth did as well?) Some of them take a moment to absorb.

All of them show the heart of God.

Take, for example, his definition of spirituality.

Spirituality is not a formula, it is not a test, it is a relationship. Spirituality is not about competency, it is about intimacy. Spirituality is not about perfection, it is about connection. The way of the spiritual life begins where we are now, in the mess of our lives. Accepting the reality of our broken and flawed lives is the beginning of spirituality, not because the spiritual life will remove our flaws, but because we let go of seeking perfection, and instead, seek God, the One who is present in the tangled-ness of our lives. Spirituality is not about being fixed, it is about God being present in the middle of our unfixedness.

I love it. That is real life. That is real God, doing real things. Jesus never had perfect followers. Even by the time Jesus was ready to leave the earth, they were still flawed. The made mistakes. They weren't 'fixed', even after three intensive years with Jesus in the flesh walking with them. And yet we seek perfection when clearly God requires us as we are, not our excellence.

Mike covers many topics - 'The Spirituality of Losers', 'Living Our Ignorance', 'The Who-so-evers and Just-anyones', 'The Myth of Fixing Ourselves', 'The Four Non-principles of Spiritual Growth', 'Increasing Slowness'. These are all seemingly backward topics. And yet, they are all profound and biblical and best of all, REAL.

I can't say it loudly enough. If you're messy and doubting and honest and real and you want to find your spirituality in that, read this book. Buy it, borrow it, whatever. Then give it to your friends to read too.

Bloggy Changes

2008-03-07T15:54:00.002+11:00

Ooooh, there are changes afoot!

Well, it's not really that exciting (or worthy of "Ooooh"s), but I have been playing around with things in here. RSS readers will need to click through to see.

First of all, I have a brand-spanking-new header. Preeetty.

And I also changed my Blogroll to update automatically via Google Reader. OK, it doesn't look quite as pretty with the awful border around it (sorry, can't figure out how I can get rid of that), but at least the content should be updated a little more often. :-)

So settle in and make yourself at home!

A one-hit wonder

2008-03-07T12:27:00.007+11:00

No, not the Right Said Fred kind. Another, infinitely more important kind.

"But nothing could be more important than I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt", I hear you say.

Well, just look at this. One Hit Wonder has been launched. They are a legitimate charity, and they're challenging everybody with internet access to donate just $1. If even 1% of internet users in the world do that, they will raise just under 7.3 million dollars. At the end of the year, they will give it all away - 90% to the poorest communities in developing countries, and 10% for community development projects within Australia. The money will be given through various organisations across the globe covering many regions and need.

Not one dollar will be used for administration or any other associated expenses.

Please support them. It's only a dollar, but it will make such a difference.

A whole day's food for the cost of a third of a latte?

2008-03-07T12:27:00.006+11:00

I didn't think it was possible! I spent $3 on my latte this morning, and here I find Nathan and Laura doing a very intriguing experiment where they are eating with a dollar a day for just over a month.

Yes, I'm very late to the party. They're up to day 30 already, but go read through the archives and see what they've been up to. It will challenge you.

On day 5, for example, Nathan writes:

This morning in church we took communion. Never before has the bread and juice tasted quite so sweet.

I heard once that we can never fully appreciate something until it's gone. I'm starting to recognize that a little more. Even the very food on my table is a gift from God. I realize now just how much I have taken for granted.

"May God have mercy on us and let us see; may our prayers show that we know our true need and know the only One who can meet it."
-Ron Julian

Wow.

And on day 15:

It made me think about something Laura used to say about the families in Nairobi:

"They have so little. But they're usually so happy."

When we don't have much, we have to depend on other people. Dependence builds unity. And unity builds happiness--and in this case, pizza rolls!

In some ways, these poor are actually richer than I am. I suppose we're all poor in some way or another.

Double wow. The whole thing is making me question myself and my own addiction to consumerism.

These people are Christ-followers in the true sense of the word.

Oh how I love the junk drawer

2008-03-06T16:23:00.002+11:00

I was reading a comment by Mark Driscoll today on Kingdom Grace.

(Speaking of the Emerging Church) "It's a junk drawer category for all kinds of different people."

Even though it was probably meant to be disparaging, I like it. The Kingdom of God is a junk drawer, full of all kinds of different people. I love my junk drawer (well, technically it's a junk shelf) at home. Everything in it is so interesting, so different, so necessary. I can't throw away all those bits and pieces because I need them all. Every single one. Even the oft-used clumps of Blu-tak and paper clips.

So now my blog has a by-line (look to the right). I edited the statement slightly to fit.

A Deconstructed Christian - A junk drawer for all kinds of different people.

Wanna join me in the junk drawer?

Seems I'm It again!

2008-03-06T11:55:00.004+11:00

This time it's a tag from Brand Name Faith.

Since it's such an easy one that requires little or no thought on my part, I'll get right to it. It may be argued by many that I have little or no thought generally, but that's another issue altogether. :-D

The meme consists of four questions requiring four answers, and then the tagging of four people.

4 Jobs I’ve Had in My Life:

- Um, bakery assistant. Hated it. Not the job, the owner of the bakery. The job would have been good except for her.
- Housekeeper. I cleaned peoples' houses. It was mostly good, except for one that was just disgusting and I won't go into details.
- Receptionist. Straight reception is sooooo easy. Maybe I should go back to it.
- What I do now, which is reception/administration/customer support/accounts receivable/accounts payable/whatever anybody else doesn't want to do. Technically I think my job title is Reception/Administration. Sorta.

4 Shows I DVR (No DVR in my house, so I'll treat this as favourite TV shows)

- All Saints
- House
- Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares
- Rove Live / (but Good News Week since Rove isn't on air here at the moment)

4 Places I’ve Been

- Noosa
- Ayers Rock (Uluru)
- The Great Ocean Road
- Melbourne City (I love Melbourne. It never loses its appeal) :-)

4 Favorite Foods

- Lemon Cheesecake
- Fresh crusty bread with good camembert cheese
- Eggs Benedict
- My own slow-cooked BBQ Ribs. Except mine don't look like that pic, because by the time they're served up, they're falling off the bone. :-D

4 People I Tag

- Oh, I don't know. If you just read this, consider yourself tagged. :-P So there.

Messy, Messy Me

2008-03-05T13:42:00.002+11:00

I finally got around to buying Messy Spirituality by Mike Yaconelli today. I look forward to reading it! Thanks to His Girl Friday for the tip.

From the first few pages it seems like my kinda book. :-D