Otherwise occupied

I have been not too great in the last few weeks, and so blogging has been almost too much. I put a higher priority on my preaching blog than this one, so I have kept up to date with that (and am even ready to go away on holidays ... blogs will be automatically posted for that period)

But on of the things I have been doing since early September is following M'Cheyne's Bible reading plan which aims to read the whole Bible in one year.

I have since then read about a third of the Bible.

Any 'plan' is going to have limitations and this one is no exception, but I have enjoyed and am enjoying it.

It's a long time (maybe thirty years) since I have read through the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures. I have probably read through the (Greek Scriptures) New Testament numerous times

A couple of things I have noted which you may be interested in:

• By and large, although M'Cheyne's divisions are arbitrary they work quite well. There are 4 readings each day (basically 1 chapter each) The first two in his mind were to be read as family devotions in the morning and the second two as private evening devotions. I usually read all four at once. In fact I try to read at least two portions (8 chapters) a day as I am aiming to do this in six months (possibly a vanity)
• I find when I read that I need to give it proper time. There is no point reading while the TV is on! And when I do I can read fairly quickly.
• It is interesting to read a whole chapter at once . So often in Church we read only 10-20 verses, and we make the mistake of thinking that scripture comes in bite size chunks!
• The most noticeable thing is that when I read. Give it proper time. And do it as well as I can that I find that my spirits are lifted. It doesn't matter whether I am reading legal texts, love poetry, battle stories or the teaching of the New Testament. Stories by Jesus or the wonderful legends of Genesis.
• This is very similar to what St Ignatius reports when he, confined to his bed because of great injury, found that 'whodunnits' and 'popular fiction' didn't do much for him but reading the scriptures and reflecting on the lives of the saints really thrilled him.
• Now I am a creature of the church, and maybe I am being a bit 'pi' but this is what it seems like to me. I have actually been surprised by how much this has enlivened me.

I'll suggest a few more insights in coming days but why not give it a try if you're interested

On death and dying...on sin and sinning

One of the things I have been doing is tidying up an educational program we are preparing to help people new to Christianity understand soime of the basic ideas. Today I discussed one of the sessions with one of our parish groups the session about Jesus.

Part of the focus of that session is about what it means to say Jesus has died for our sin. It was (as is the nature of such discussions) 'robust'and at times 'deep'. We touched a few raw nerves. And I think there were more than a few insights. So that is good.

The conversation wandered a bit and some of my observations are:

• Most of us can't countenance the fact that we can resist sin!


• We condemn sin in other people


• More than a few of us have been touched by suicide


• We play games and avoid confronting ourselves


• Most of us have either totally excused ourselves because of Calvary, or failed to think that it even applies to me

So, on the whole, I think the study is pitched at a good level.

Death wish of a eunuch

Like many programs on the ABC you can have a love-hate relationship with them, such a one is Q and A. Excellent in that it gives presenter Tony Jones a free-er hand than does his previous incarnation on Lateline. So he is chipper and often asks 'inappropriate' questions that an unbiased interviewer is not supposed to ask.

Stilted, because there is a degree of control on 'audience questions' (we are told endlessly this is your program). The control is not so much on content as on the fact that questioners have to obviously submit their questions and write them down, this at least means we don't have audience members rabitting on; but does mean their delivery is often wooden; and you sometimes wonder whether schools teach people to read out loud!
Excellent also because the guests are not just the political wannabes or usual suspects. They are there, but others are too. So last night we had not only Bob Carr and Julie Bishop (both excellently arrogant in their own right) but also Germaine Greer, former , The Australian newspaper's foreign editor, Greg Sheridan and curator and critic, Marcus Westbury.
All contributed well, Westbury declared himself to be the 'token young person', Sheridan offered a different view from the narrow line of political self-interest and called Greer old! (she was not amused), And Greer herself, of course, was splendidly ridiculous.
So capable of thinking on her feet, there were times when you wondered whether she had given any of the issues a moment's thought before she opened her mouth. This used to be fun to watch, but is now a little tiresome.
However I do have to admit that it was because she and Carr were on it that I made sure I stayed up.
At one stage, commenting on literature, religion and a whole host of other things she said something like: it surprised her that people held up the Holy Koran and the Holy Bible as paragons of literature.
It surprised her because she thought both were bullshit!

A sweeping comment if ever there was one!

I wondered if she had heard of Salmon Rushdie!
The comment was all the more surprising because when commenting on the place of her seminal work of the feminist movement..The Female Eunuch... she seemed at pains to try and say that she had moved away from its naivete. Which is not surprising, it was after all 40 years ago since it was written.
She, being quite brilliant, and well-versed in literary theory would well know that the place of Scripture is not to be high Kultur (with a capital K) but as the record of belief and ideology of a society. To say such is bullshit is just shallow!
I think the scriptures are more valuable than that, but I am a person of faith.
She is not and doesn't have to be (though she does appear to be a dogmatic Marxist...and admitted as much last night).
And she is after all a controversialist rather than a seminal thinker. I think that much was evident last night.
Good TV, not necessarily intelligent thought.

Bizzaro Biblicum

The seven foods of Deuteronomy, Wheat, Barley, Raisins, Honey, Figs, Pomegranates, Olive Oil, are packed into this Bible Bar providing "nutrition God's way"

David, Samson and Moses rule over a jelly bean tube each

I find all this truly bizarre!(here)