A few things today. Firstly – Bible reading is going well. Spoke to a friend of mine about Old Testament stuff and he mentioned the fact that the reason to read a lot of the Old Testament is actually so you know what bits of the Old Testament really don’t matter all that much… and there are quite a few things in the section I’ve been reading that fall into that category. Now – I am sure a lot of people will shoot me down for saying this but I think there are far more important things than how many were in the family of Reuben at a certain point in history.

Having said that there are a lot of important things in there too. Like how God is pretty powerful and it’s not wise to rub him up the wrong way (I just checked the biblical accuracy of that statement with Sian and she said it may be a bit of a understatement but it’s ok…) Also a lot of the ‘fine detail’ is kind of a glimpse into how to live as a community. Like the going to war thing, and returning stuff to people if you borrow it, and the whole gleaning thing, and lots more. It’s all good stuff.

Moving on. Are you with me?

I’ve read a couple of other things recently that I wanted to mention. The first (in fact both) come from a book called “Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture” by Michael Frost. He’s Australian. I think. But the book is quite American. I’m enjoying it but this paragraph struck me as amusing though:

I don’t think it’s too simplistic to conclude that reality TV works because it offers a fragmented and disconnected Western audience the opportunity to vicariously enter into a pseudo-community via the television or the radio.

It has to be said that there is nothing simplistic about that. Are you with me?

The other thing though is a bit more serious. Frost writes this:

Why are we obsessed with the singular event rather than seeking the rhythm of a community churching together?

It is a question I keep asking at the moment. A question about community and a question about church. A question about why the two things so often, for me, feel so far apart… church is so often about an event (or a few events during the week) and so often not about the way that we live our lives together. I’m going to come up with some answers soon…

Finally – I just want to say – are you with me? It’s weird. At first I thought it was only Rob Bell who said it all the time. I am a bit of a fan of Rob Bell and often listen to his teaching when driving to school. But he asks “Are you with me?” quite often. I remember one talk he gave and the whole way through I was just thinking “No Rob, I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about” and he kept asking me if I was with him. But then Mars Hill got a new teaching pastor – called Shane Hipps or something like that… and he started doing it so I thought it was a Mars Hill thing but then one of our lecturers at School of Ministry started saying it too… I guess it’s like their version of me saying “erm” all the time.

So that’s me – I’m jumping on the bandwagon – next time I preach I’m going to try it.

Are you with me?

This weeks thought, therefore, is slightly on the flippant side than the deep side… The beginning of Numbers 12 (did I mention I moved on to Numbers?) says :

Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife (he had married a Cushite).

It’s almost like the writer realises he forgot to mention the whole marrying of a Cushite and that it was kind of key to the dispute between Miriam, Aaron and Moses.

Beyond that, I’ve got nothing.

How are you all?

I have to say it’s going to be a struggle keeping up with this one. So much of me wants to say it’s great to read all the detail about how the Levites should work and how and what sacrifices should be made and to learn in more depth about the ways of the Israelites as they strived to create their way of living as community but I have to be honest – I don’t find it very interesting.

In other news – I have an iPhone. And the great thing is it has been provided by the amazing Helen (off of Facebook & York) without a charge (well – there is a kind of charge but I’m going to talk about that more when I’ve paid it)

But the even greater thing is that it came about because Helen was… actually… I’m going to let her explain. Quote:

I was inspired by your note about living simply a while ago…made me think about holding on to all things (possessions, time, expertise) more lightly. And the more we share our needs/wants with each other, the more we allow other people the chance to help! That for me is the bigger deal…

It kind of ties in with some things I’ve been thinking over lately. And a talk by Rob Bell that I heard the other day. He spoke about the need to be willing to ask for stuff! And that we shouldn’t apologise when we ask for things. I’m not really sure he meant things like iPhones. I think he probably meant slightly more important things (like the example he gave of when his very pregnant wife woke up in the middle of night unable to breath and he needed to ring someone to ask them to come look after his other kid)

A lot of the time I want to help people, I want to be better at being a Christian but I’m not sure I put myself in a position to do this. Now – I know it’s my responsibility to do that so I figure if I start using the places I hang out (Facebook, my blog, Java Lounge etc) more effectively then I will (hopefully) begin to see more opportunity to be helpful. But also by expressing my needs (and sometimes wants!) in those places then I can also provide other people with the opportunity to help… to provide for those needs.

So – you can but ask. Feel free to use this place to ask for stuff (and by stuff I mean stuff you need…) I can’t say I’ll have it or be able to give it but if you’re in need then you’ve gotta ask.

This week has been more Exodus. A great story and some good sections of reading. The part I want to mention today is Exodus 16. It’s the whole manna from heaven thing. A really simple post this time. When the Israelites collected food some gathered much, some little, but they all ended up with as much as they needed.

The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed.

My question is this – what do you reckon we would be left with if we just had as much as we needed?

This week I have mostly been finishing Genesis and starting Exodus. And by mostly I mean only. Where were we last week? Had we had Joseph and His Coat With Long Sleeves (it wouldn’t be as good a title for a musical would it?) We had? Ok – well – this week we finished the whole Joseph story, Jacob died, Joseph died and things moved on. The big thing from the end of the Genesis story I picked up was Joseph’s insistence that even though his brothers handed him over to the slave traders to get rid of him God actually had a much bigger picture in mind. Genesis 50:20 sees Joseph say “You tried to harm me but God made it turn out for the best.” Which is a pretty impressive thing to say after all his brothers had put him through.

I remember when my brother sold me into slavery… no… not really.

Moving on – I’ve started the whole Deliverer story now which is another great one. So far the thing that has struck me (again) is the stick in Moses’ hand. Not literally. That would hurt. But it’s the whole “what’s in your hand?” Ali, who I seem to mention in most of my posts at the moment, spoke at St John’s about this a while ago… listen if you get the chance.

I’ve just reached the end of Genesis 40 and have started the story of Joseph in Egypt. The beginning of the build up to the Exodus really.

The main thing I’ve noticed through this lot of readings (apart from how badly the readings are distributed – Genesis 27 to 31 in one sitting was tough!) is that there are a lot of messed up things going on at the ‘beginning of time’! So many times people seem to take things into their own hands to try and sort things out. And there are so many repeated mistakes too – people don’t seem to learn from their mistakes. People keep pretending their wives are their sisters or decide to sleep with servants so they have offspring and all that. The book seems to be about messed up family really. God still works through them and blesses them though. Interesting. Sometimes I get the impression that God’s there blessing people but shaking his head in dispair at the same time.

Nothing too deep or serious this time. But one thing I would like to point to is a book my sister lent me called “God’s Big Picture” – it’s by Vaughan Roberts and is a great introduction to the narrative that runs through the Bible. It has been great to start reading it alongside starting out on the Bible in a year. I’m pretty sure God’s Big Picture won’t take me a year to read as it’s “a good size for a book” but I am also sure it will be helpful to keep the overall picture in sight, especially as I move into the sections of the Bible that may not be so interesting to read.

Anyhoo – first real challenge this week as we’re on the Yardley Family Christmas this weekend – changes to routine (however good!) are usually what get me on the whole bible reading discipline type thing. I’ll keep you posted.

And one more thing – Ali (see earlier post) posted something pretty cool the other day – it’s about a project called Postsecret – I won’t go into the details here but do check out his post.

This year (as many years before) I’ve started going through the bible in a year. This year I’m going to stick to it though. Well. Try. And Ali Johnson, a friend of mine, is going through it too (probably lots of friends of mine are going through it but Ali is the only one I’ve talked to about it so far). I’m very much looking forward to facing the challenge with Ali. Accountability is great.

Anyway – the system I’m following just takes me through from Genesis to Revelation (I know there are other methods) but every seventh day there is a kind of ‘break’ that gives space to read some of the Psalms. So I thought I would try and blog each 7th day about the week that I’ve just read. Another method of accountability. And more waffling.

So this week I’ve read up to Genesis 17 – the bit about circumcision. Genesis is a great book and at the same time it leaves me with quite a few questions and sometimes makes me think things that maybe I should think of God. Like – the tower of Babel (Genesis 11). Now – I must admit I’ve not done any proper study in to this so I probably should but there are times when I read this story and just think that it sounds a bit as if God’s making it up as He goes along. See – you shouldn’t stay stuff like that about God?! I’m sure it’s a wrong reading rather than anything else… but there you go. I’ve said it.

In other news – I love reading the story of the fall – because even at the beginning of the story, with hindsight, you can see the hints of Jesus. And it’s exciting. And the same with the beginning of Abram’s story. You know – even though he gets it wrong sometimes (saying Sarai was his sister and things) – there are great things to come through Abram and his descendants.

It reminds me of the Dave Crowder Band song – For The Glory Of It All – that starts:

At the start
he was there, he was there
In the end,
he’ll be there, he’ll be there

And After all our hands have wrought
He forgives

Oh the Glory of it all is:
he came here
For the rescue of us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all

There are exciting times ahead. And I know there is so much you can take from Genesis – much more than I’m going to go into here and now but for me that is what has been exciting – it’s the start of a story – a great story that has many ups and downs but ultimately is about Christ.

My Saviour.