I definitely noticed this difference when I was growing up. While my brothers, once they left school, were given a lot more freedom to come and go as they please, I have niggling memories of being in my teens and early twenties and dreading the 12am phonecalls from my dad: WHERE ARE YOU? WHEN ARE YOU COMING HOME? ITS MIDNIGHT (The capitals are to denote both the tone and volume of the conversation). I never got up to anything really bad and sometimes when dad called I was sitting in someone’s lounge room, but there were times when I would go out with uni friends, roaming the city bar scene, the occasional clubs and King St favourites. I was also a bit silly and sometimes took risks, like catching trains late at night on my own after drinking, parking my car down an alley and walking by myself to meet friends, getting into cars or going out with guys I barely knew – always as friends, but still a bit risky.

These days I am much more cautious when it comes to going out. Partly I think it’s age, as this party pooper gets really tired at 10:30pm! But I also think it’s to do with having a husband. When I was single, I was a lot more willing to take risks because there simply wasn’t a man who offered to walk me to my car, or made sure I got home okay. My dad would offer and at times insist on doing these things, but being young and getting my first taste of freedom, I always complained and found a way of getting out of it. Now that I’m so used to having someone to pick me up after a night out or meet me at the station, it feels strange to take the risks I did when I was younger, almost dangerous. It’s funny how perceptions change.

It’s also funny how as a 25-year-old I am willing to accept protection from my husband, but as an 18-year-old, I complained bitterly about recieving the same protection from my dad.

Now that I am older, I am completely enamoured by the idea that it is the father’s role to protect his daughter, to watch out for her safety and her honour. My fear, though, is that God in some divine sense of humour will give me a teenager daughter and I will one day get a good, strong dose of my own medicine! I would love to teach my teenager daughter that it’s a privilege to be looked after and protected by a father, but knowing how headstrong I was at that age, I’m not sure how easy it will be…

*I do realise not everyone will have a father to look out for them if they go overseas, change states or move out of home right after school, but I hope girls who do so don’t take silly risks when going out at night, and their male friends would look after them:)

But what can I sing about? I cannot talk about the present, and even the past looks full of barrenness. Ah! I can sing of Jesus Christ. I can talk of visits which the Redeemer has aforetimes paid to me; or if not of these, I can magnify the great love wherewith He loved His people when He came from the heights of heaven for their redemption. I will go to the cross again. Come, my soul, heavy laden thou wast once, and thou dist lose thy burden there. Go to Calvary again. Perhaps that very cross which gave thee life may give thee fruitfulness.

What is my barrenness? It is the platform for His fruit-creating power. What is my desolution? It is the black setting for the sapphire of His everlasting love. I will go in poverty, I will go in helplessness, I will go in all my shame and backsliding, I will tell Him that I am still His child, and in confidence in His faithful heart, even I, the barren one, will sing and cry aloud.

Sing, believer, for it will cheer thine own heart, and the hearts of other desolute ones. Sing on, for now that thou art really ashamed of being barren, thou wilt be fruitful soon; now that God makes thee loat to be without fruit. He will soon cover thee with clusters. The experience of our barrenness is painful, but the Lord’s visitations are delightful. A sense of our own poverty drives us to Christ, and that is where we need to be, for in Him our fruit is found.”

C.H Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

The discussion was sparked after reading Nehemiah 8 and his account of how the people of Israel responded to the reading of Moses’ Law.

It says from verse 5 onwards:

Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

This got us thinking: have we lost the freedom to express ourselves physically* at churches today?

When you look at the past ten years in Sydney evangelical churches, there has been a strong reaction against physicality in worship. On one hand, churches don’t want to put too much emphasis on charismatic styles of worship, in case we become manipulative and overly emotional. On the other hand, we seem to be reluctant to use sacraments and prayer book refrains, perhaps because we don’t want to become mired in ritual or give the impression that these things are necessary in order to be close to God.

But have we thrown the baby out with the bath water?

Using our bodies to worship God – whether through raising hands, dancing with joy, quietly reflecting on our knees in prayer or saying a hearty “Amen!” after a reading – can be a great way of responding to His Word and Spirit. If we are too reactionary against forms of worship that come from other traditions, we risk robbing our own congregations of this opportunity.

I can imagine several objections people may have to encouraging physicality in worship.

1. It’s a cultural thing – unlike Jews, most Australians just aren’t comfortable with physical forms of expression.

2. It’s not fair to make people feel like they have to move. People feel manipulated and uncomfortable when a leader is overly physical.

3. It’s outside unfriendly – people will look at us and think we’re freaks.

I have a few thoughts on these.

1. Culture. It’s true that some cultures are more physical than others, but I don’t think it’s accurate to say that Westerners generally aren’t very expressive. For starters, Aussies are very quick to yell, scream and wave at a football match. They are quick to shake hands, clap someone on the back, etc. There are also plenty of other church traditions in Sydney where westerners feel very comfortable expressing themselves. It all depends on comfort levels and context – if something is normalised in a certain context, then you won’t feel uncomfortable or strange.

Secondly, using your body doesn’t necessarily mean crazy, sweaty dancing. There are measured, thoughtful ways churches can introduce physical worship into a service, ways that don’t make more restrained people feel uncomfortable. One is doing a “call and response”, like they have in the Anglican prayer books. Another is  encouraging congregation members to kneel for prayer. One obvious one that often gets neglected is celebrating the Lord’s Supper more often. It’s a huge shame that Anglican churches don’t break bread more often. Not only does it use all the senses to engage in the message of Grace – taste, touch, movement, sound, etc – but Jesus tells us to celebrate it. So what are we waiting for?

2. Feeling pressured. I think this is a valid concern. But more often than not, it is said by people at churches which are so restrained and far from manipulative cry-fests that I wonder whether the motive behind it is more fear of the unknown, rather than a genuine concern to safeguard believers.

Like with everything, when it comes to feeling pressured, we need to look to the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ rather than insisting our own comfort levels are met. Sometimes at church, I really want to raise my hands during the singing but I don’t, mainly because I feel self-conscious and I’m afraid other people will look at me. If there is a tendency for people to feel pressured to move, then it stands to reason that there is a tendency for people to feel pressured to remain still, to “behave”. If we are honest with ourselves, the latter is more true in evangelical circles, not the former. We need to look after both groups.

Is there a way of loving both our restrained and expressive brothers and sisters in Christ? Rather than eskewing all forms of movement to serve one type of personality, can we work together to find thoughtful ways of doing things, so that both types of believers feel comfortable at church?

3. The outsider. There is a difference between making church outsider-friendly and catering churches to outsiders.  Ultimately, church is the privilege and the joy of the believer, not the unbeliever. While it’s so important to make sure all the elements of church are welcoming and friendly and I believe in being Greeks to the Greeks, reaching out to the community etc, we shouldn’t neglect what God gives us as privilege – e.g. the Lord’s Supper – for the sake of accomodating a non-believer. That just seems counter-productive to me.

Also, I think we’re a bit too defensive and paranoid when it comes to “looking cool” to the non Christian world. Honestly, I don’t think people think its weird to come to church and see an offetory box, or the Lord’s Supper, or hear a hymn, or a call and response – as long as the people are genuine, friendly and not so caught up in Christian circles that they can’t talk about everyday things. It also helps if everything is explained in a way that makes them feel like they don’t have to participate if they don’t want to.

Anyway, I’ve probably gone on for way too long on this topic. What about you? Do you think we could be more physical in worship? And how can we do it in a way that is loving and serves the body of Christ?

* I’m defining “phsyical” as using all facets of your body during church, not just your brain – so arms, legs, movement, voice, taste, smell, touch, etc.

1. I took singing classes when I was in Year seven. My elderly teacher entered me into the “Contemporary” section of our school Esteddford. Everyone else sang Mariah Carey and Boyz 2 Men songs - I sang a stirring rendition of Barbara Streisand’s “Memories“.  I was too young to be embarassed then. I’m not too young now.

2. I currently have a huge  bunch of flowers sitting on my desk, sent to me from a film director who really liked a profile piece I wrote on him.

3. My brother and I thought Judas was a black man with an afro for most of our childhood, thanks to the TV version of Jesus Christ Superstar.

4. I was an editor for the Sydney University newspaper Honi Soit in 2003. It was the best and worst year of my life to date; the year I made the most mistakes as a Christian, but also learnt the most.

5. More on uni - I have three majors: Film studies, Media and Art History and Theory. I started honours in Art History and Theory but dropped out halfway because I was sick of studying and wanted a full time job. I really regret that decision and one day I’d like to study art again, though I haven’t quite figured out how yet. I’m pretty good at drawing. I can’t paint for peanuts, but I can do wonders with a piece of charcoal. 

6. I met my husband three times before we knew each other’s name (we grew up in the same area). The first time, I was in Year 10 and he was in Year 11. I used to work at a chocolate shop in our local shopping centre with a girl who was a school friend of his. He used to visit her quite a bit. I don’t remember much about him back then, except thinking, “why is that boy hanging around and not buying anything?”

The second time is a very faded memory, but I’m 90% sure it happened. I went on mission to Cowra in 2000/2001, the same year Sam and a bunch of his mates visited while on a road trip. It was his birthday the day they dropped by, and I remember vaguely a tallish guy being carried in and dressed in a party hat of some description, with lots of guys who weren’t from the mission yelling. I also remember thinking, “how immature,” and then going back to prepping for Kid’s church that morning. Heh.

The third time will be perfectly etched into my memory forever. I’d started a new job at a cafe and my manager Jen was teaching me how to use the cash register. I was getting the hang of it, when a lovely tall man came up to me and ordered a double choc chip cookie. It was only when Jen chatted to him amiably did I realise that he worked at the cafe as well. “Hi, I’m Sam,” he said, with a really friendly smile. “I’m Sophia,” I replied. And that was it.

I’m now supposed to tag people, but I think I’m going to be naughty and break ranks. What are 6 random facts about you? Tell me in the comments!

2. Own an item of clothing from Rose and Ruby.

3. Write a “letter to the editor”.

4. Paint a really big oil painting.

5. Frame picutres I’ve painted in the past (it’s pricey to frame things!).

6. Bake the perfect loaf of banana bread.

7.  Go to my ten year school reunion.

8. Go to a uni graduation service (I forgot to go to my own gradutation, much to my parent’s exasperation).

9. Study film again. I’d love to finish my honours or do a masters in film theory, but more realistically, I could join a club or do a part-time course…

10. Learn how to sew.

11. Learn how to knit.

12. Figure out what to do with my wedding dress.

13. Actually read every book I own.

14. Learn how to cook a roast.

15. Own a nice camera.

16. Learn how to take good pictures with above nice camera.

17. Own a good collection of secular books on gender theory and feminism. I have quite a few and I’ve read all the main thinkers, but I would like more.

18. Work as a freelance feature writer for women’s magazines (my dream job!)

19. Get a haircut I really really like.

20. do the bayrun…running, not walking

21. Buy a cheap drum-kit.

22. Figure out how to use Excel.

23. Read the entire Bible.

24. Memorise a Puritan prayer.

25. Go on a short-term mission overseas or in another state.

26. Get involved in a charity – whether through volunteering, or working in communications.

27. Grow herbs in the garden (we don’t currently have a garden or balcony)

28. Take a short course on something totally random, like sailing.

29. See the snow (I’ve never seen snow).

30. Write a short novel.

“I don’t think you should go to church, you still look sick,” said husband.

“But it’s been two weeks!” I protested.

“Yes, but have you actually had any rest in those two weeks?” Hmm. Maybe not, though not from lack of trying. Something always came up which was more important: work, Crossfire, the Carnevale our church ran this weekend, bible study, work function and lunch, nights out, having people over. It’s funny how I have learnt to ignore my body instead of listening to it.

So instead of going to church tonight, I stayed at home. The silence of our little flat frightened me at first (there’s nothing good on TV sunday nights), but I decided to make good use of a night alone. I made some green tea, read the Bible, wrote in my prayer journal, listened to a Sovereign Grace album, read a few chapters of different christian books (How Long O Lord by Don Carson and Reaching for the Invisible God by Philip Yancey) and prayed.

It occurred to me, as I spent time with God, how I forget that He is not just my Lord and Saviour, but also my friend. John 15:15 says, “...I do not call you slaves anymore, because a slave doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from My Father”. Revelations also talks about being able to just be with Jesus, to enjoy His presence and eat with him. Revelations 3:20 says, “Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me.”

How often do I spend time with my friend Jesus, just eating with Him, enjoying Him, listening to His words? Or am I always too busy – always doing, always ministering, always “on mission” – but never enjoying His presence?

Tonight was great. I feel strengthened and peaceful. I should do it more often! Regeneration should be a part of every Christian’s walk with God. I’m not talking about stopping going to church – I missed it, and was sad not to be there, but I want to make sure that I’m taking enough time for me to rest and enjoy my relationship with God.

I also hope regeneration is a part of every church program. Sometimes, it is too easy to always be on mission and forever asking our members to serve and minister. Wouldn’t it be great to regularly hold “regeneration meetings” – i.e. a period of time (a regular event, weekend, sermon series, even a month) where all we pursue as a church is to delight in our God. Let’s not fall into the trap of being always busy, always urgent, and ignoring a congregation’s need to rest and taste that the Lord is good.

The reason for the move is a long-sighted one. Basically, we want to learn. We want to gain a fresh perspective on how to serve and love Jesus from a different ministry and congregation. We want to experience new ways of doing church, as well as new ideas on how to proclaim Him to our community. We want to sit under other mature christians and pastors and watch how they love and care for their flock. And we figure Sam’s college years are the best time to do that.

It goes without saying that moving churches is hard. I am going to miss the family of believers at Annandale like crazy. I will miss their love, creativity and passion for Jesus. I hope we will remain good friends with many of the people we’ve met during our three years there. I hope we will stay in touch!

Moving churches is also hard because Sam and I have no idea where to go. We have certain criteria floating around at the back of our heads. Among them, we want to go to a church where the pastor is godly, wise and experienced – someone from whom we can gleam much wisdom and many treasures from.

But apart from that, the world (or Sydney at least) is our oyster. We have prayed about this decision in countless different ways – boldly, reverently, thoughtfully, at times with confidence that God will sign-post the way, at other times in frustration from not knowing our future, and still other times in fear and trembling, knowing that we cannot force His mighty hand.

So far with five months left to go until the end of the year, He has not shown us which way to go. However, I have every confidence that our Father knows what is best and that if we are faithful to Him, if we stay close to Him, He will lead us the right way…but in his own timing.

Please pray that we will be patient and faithful, and that when He calls, we will follow!

If you’ve been involved in ministry for a little while, especially around Anglican circles, then you might have been exposed to a helpful little diagnostic tool called ‘Mission Minded‘ – written by Peter Bolt, my New Testament lecturer. I was first exposed to this book not long after I was invited to be a youth group leader. The book’s purpose is to help church pastors and ministry leaders to assess whether things are truly ‘mission minded’, or whether the whole ministry machine is rolling along in ‘maintenance mode’ (as ministries can tend to do). It’s a brilliant ministry tool, despite it’s dreadful cover design.

Tools like this are really important, because all of us are prone to slip without noticing into maintenance mode, simply letting things stay the same for years or decades on end without taking the time to consider whether or not the way we’re doing things is still the best way. Every church has this problem in some form, and it’s not just limited to the oldies in our congregations. Even youth leaders can be tempted to mourn the passing of an era when a decision is made to change things up. It’s characterised by that all-telling phrase ‘But we’ve always done it this way…’.

Letting a ministry fall into this trap is effectively issuing a death warrant of the worst kind – a slow painful and dwindling death, sometimes lasting decades, as our techniques/programs/approaches/language slowly age and become dated/irrelevant/boring/just plain stale.

Obviously I’m not talking about preaching a new or different gospel – our message about Jesus must never change. But the means, structures, techniques, programs and practices by which we preach the timeless gospel need to be continually re-examined and pruned. Sometimes it’s just little adjustments or tweaks that are needed, but every so often it wouldn’t hurt to throw everything up for grabs, take a blank piece of paper and work it all out again from first principles.

Hopefully this isn’t news to most of you. If it is, grab Bolty’s book and get reading today. Then go straight to your church music folder, take every copy of ‘Shine Jesus Shine’ and ‘Jesus Christ the King and Saviour’ and torch them as a burnt offering of repentance.

I think that lots of churches (mine included) are doing pretty well on this front. We’re always trying to think of new things to do and new ways to do things. I visited my old church’s youth group a few months back to preach, and was heartened to see how different so many things were since I had left. Facilities were improved, leadership structures had been rethought, meeting formats had been changed and best of all numbers had grown massively, while many familiar faces still remained, many of whom had grown and matured in Christ. I would hope that if an older member of Christians in the Media visited us again that they might say the same about some of the things and people they would observe at our meetings.

Something that I’ve been reflecting on lately however, is that while it is great to plan, change and refine things, we must never forget that not only is it God who gives the growth, but it’s also God who provides the resources for that growth. It is so easy to slip into the ‘bigger is better’ mentality, and then look to ourselves to make it all happen. But big plans without an honest assessment of the resources God has given is just as much of a recipe for disaster as ‘Shine Jesus Shine’. People will be treated like workhorses, put to task for the vision of the church, and preaching of the scriptures will become distorted as the message of the gospel is robbed of it’s comfort and hope and used cheaply as a stick to drive people onward to giving more and more.

As we set visions for ministries, make decisions about goals for next year, or even just whip next term’s rosters we must not let our proud hearts set our agenda, but realistically work with what God has given us, and trust him as the Lord over the church that he really is, even if that might mean humbling ourselves and admitting that we can’t do everything that we might hope to do right now.

As I approach the half-way mark of my time in training for ministry, I’m asking God to keep humbling me before him, as I know that even as we labour for the Lord there is always that temptation to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, rather than with sober judgment. Sadly it is often the sheep who pay for the sins of a proud pastor.

Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”

The latest title Sam thought of is Shopping For Labels, Shopping For Love, from Fergie’s most recent song Labels or Love. I think that would be a great title for a sermon about satisfying our thirst for love with material things.

When I first heard this song on the radio, I initially thought the line went, “shopping for leg boots, shopping for love”. But if you look at the lyrics of Fergie’s song, my mistaken line is not too far off. Fergie sings:

“Love’s like a runway but which one do I love more?
No emotional baggage, just big bags filled with Dior
Love’s like a runway, so what’s all the fussing for?
Let’s stop chasing them boys and shop some more. “

To give her the benefit of the doubt, maybe Fergie is trying to be ironic, in the same way Alanis Morisette attempted irony in the 90s. But this song is such a product of our times. Two images of the modern woman are painted for us: the weak-willed woman who pines for a man and “lays and waits for love”, compared to the empowered woman who takes control of her life and says goodbye to emotional baggage. It’s not hard to see which woman Fergie wants to be. Why wait for love when you can make yourself happy? In the same vein as shows like Sex And The City, the song gives the modern woman a solution to being at the mercy of love: a night out with your girlfriends and bagfuls of Dior. These days, you can’t be a feminist if you don’t have a credit card.

The ironic thing is that shopping for labels is no different from shopping for love. Women, especially those who have been terribly hurt in the past, can use labels as a disguise, shrouding themselves in order to hide who they really are from the world, either out of fear and insecurity. The end result is plastic - plastic shoes, plastic sunglasses, plastic nails, plastic heart. In the end, the woman who shops is no more free or empowered than the one who pines for love. Both have an aching gap that they are desperate to fill with something, anything. But both have no assurance that they will find that the missing part of their lives that gives them hope and meaning.

Fergie, I’m sure “a Prada dress has never broken my heart before”, but it can’t stop me from feeling lonely, nor can it make me life whole. In fact, not much in this life can satisfy me on its own. Someone said something to this effect years ago, which makes me think that maybe this sermon title is more than just an attempt to be hip and contemporary.

“Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life.” (From John 4, Jesus’ words to a woman shopping for love)

1. Don’t waste your single life wishing you were married. Be content and live in the present, or you’ll miss out.

2. Spend lots of time with your friends. Strengthen your relationships and don’t take people for granted. Build up memories for the times when you’re all older and find it difficult to spend as much time together. That way, it will be much easier to remain friends, even when you don’t see each other as often as you’d like.

3. Pick your closest friends wisely. Choose to surround yourself with people who will help you become the person you want to be. I missed out on so many great friendships because I favoured glamour over godliness.

4. Take more risks. Don’t be afraid of doing something new, even if it makes you nervous. Almost all the best things that have happened in my life occurred because I was willing to take a risk. And do it now, whatever it is. don’t wait until later.

5. Keep persevering with the piano practice. Trust me: it will pay off in the end.

6. It’s okay to make mistakes.

7. But it’s not okay to wear midriff tops.

8. If he doesn’t love God, forget about him. It’s not worth it in the end. And no, it’s not all right to go on “just one date”.

9. Appreciate a disposable income while it lasts. And buy clothes that are a little bit more pricey yet well-cut and made of great fabric, not cheap faddy things like that pleated blouse or feathered belt that you’ll end up throwing out three months later.

10. Pray more and worry less. It will work out in the end.

What would you tell your younger self?