Mim's Life

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Cross culture aid issues

Watched a press conference with Fr Chris Riley on his work in Indonesia after the tsunami. He made some interesting comments/ points-

- Despite being a Catholic, he has worked with the government of a 95% Muslim country to establish a Muslim school for kids who have lost all relatives.

-He has no intension to 'convert' the children or other people to Christianity and rekoned christians going in with the intension to help but also convert (which could be considered helping) where taking advantage of people going through a traumatic experience.

Is there any difference between this and working to help youth who often are going through a tough experience- never sure how much we should be pushing christianity and christian education or just be open about it. Guess it gets back to whether it's more important to help others or spread the word.

Does God love a grumpy greedy Christian more than a loving helpful and good Muslim who reflects Jesus's life more than the Christian but dosen't use the Jesus lable for it? When Jesus said he was the only way to the father did he mean all we had to do was acknowledge that and take on the Christian lable or that we should take on his example and live and love as he did?

- another comment Fr Riley made was about taking money from the Devil to help others- or eg. useing money donated from gambling institutes or brothels.-If it's needed does it matter where that money came from?

-liked his comment and story about how some of the kids got upset over 3 boys having to leave and they became destructive and broke some stuff- many people would label them ungrateful and undeserving or try to stop the behaviour etc. But he was glad they did it because it meant they were at least dealing with their pain in the best way they could at that time. Also that any counseling needed to be done by people from their own country- because of language issues which are really important but also cultural issues that people from other cultures are not sensitive to.

Anyway this is his site-

http://http://www.youthoffthestreets.com.au/index.html

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

'Christmas' Spirit

Watching one of those 'great' chrissy feel good movies they bring out every year and one of the characters (think it was Sanatas son or something) was trying to find their Christmas spirit.

Anyway, the comment was made that Christmas Spirit is- when we do something for others/ love others without expecting anything in return and ever losing something in the process thats the Christmas spirit!
You know, I think thats not only the Christmas spirit but even more so Christ's spirit! Why should we only act like christ in his sprit in December- Christ was Christ all year round and how much better would the world be if we all truely took up the Christ spirit challenge all year round.
Whether it's giving a gift to someone who you know can't thank you for and you can't see or share in their joy, making something for others out of love, sharing a smile with a stranger or hanging in there ready to help someone who just hurts you deeply and rejects / uses you up. Jesus live life like this to the extreme and despite sometimes when we see fruits or benifits/ appreciation of our giving he died for loving others- he died for loving us, he died for loving me. Apparently I told my minister about a year ago I was into pain- not a smart thing to tell your minister and he reminds me of it sometimes when I really wish he wouldn't. I meant it though- that I'm into pain- not that I purposely physically like hurting myself but I'd relised that to love meant to hurt and to live meant to die. I don't seek pain but I accept it, which doesn't always mean I'm good at taking it!! And life is so much better that way when you can find pleasure and love in and around any pain.

Mim the music therapist!!

Just a quick post to let the world know that I've been accepted at Melbourne uni (my 1st pref) to do their 'Master in Music Therapy' course over the next 2 years.

Was starting to look forward to living in Brisband for a couple of years but Melb is just so much easier- and prob move out of home next year anyway so thats enough excitment for me!
So thats just an update- also just dug a ton of sand out of my bellybutton from being at point Leo this morn and my hair is icky from the water- so thats the very latest update from my way!!

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Christmas myths- busted!!

This ones for Linda who was asking what the deal is with X-mas? and gave it a good guess- X as in kiss so it means love-mas. Good guess- not true (we missed Waynes wisdom last night!!:) But thats ok because I've found all the answers in a book on chrissy customs I forgot I had.
- Christmas comes from we celebrate 'Mass' for Christ.
- the X actually stands for the Greek letter which is the first letter of Christ's name and frequently used there as a holy symbol.
-The tree is meant to symbolise stuff, like the wood of pease- because peoples homes were built of wood. also a sign of eternal life, because its leaves are always green and it also points to heaven.
Actually, a lot of our Christmas traditions originally came from pagon customs- 25th Dec was the day people worshiped the sun God. Candles/fire (or chrissy lights) used to worship the sun. Mistletoe became the emblem of love through a story about the sun God and Loki, the God of evil and Hoder the blind God. And these have just been adapted to fit and relate to Jesus/ Christmas. Interesting that the early church decided to adapt the current traditions and culture of their time rather than try to change and ignore it.

What do I have to do!

Think it's the whole- having to wait to find out if I'll be forced to move interstate for the next 2 years- and what want/should do.
That and the fact that apparently I look and seem much younger than my actual age. Often get told this when telling people how old I really am and I'm still not sure whether or not to be offended by it. But how do we judge a person age or what do I have to do to look 20? Do I have to dye my hair a diff colour every few months or wear high heals all the time or never wear jeans or act more mature, use bigger words, not live at parents home, have an engagement ring on my finger, wear a ton of make up- blah blah blah.
Maybe I need to be pushed in the deep end just to grow up and seem my age. Should spend a couple of years in Queensland on my own and meet knew people and places and rely totally on myself and God.
Still sounds strange when I get called 'lady' by strangers at shops telling their kids to 'get out of the way of the lady' but apprently neither do I neatly fit the mold of what a 20 female should be. whatever the heck that is! And once again I care enough to notice but not enough (or just too lazy) to change anything- but still think moving would be a good experience- and sometimes that I just need to get away and start again.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Sleeping out for Rock!!

After a completely painful (although put in perspective- not really a big deal!) experience last monday morning (and also afternoon having to tell my good mate Damo) trying to get U2 tickets I'm totally up for sleeping out to line up if it definately means I'll get them.
Don't mind doing it because (and my theory on this is backed up by that 'thats what rock and roll is' coke add!!) It's one of those things you have to do at least once before you die/ get too old and will prob never ever want to do again. And if I was going to sleep out for a band- U2's a good choice! So if any of you are up for the challenge sun night I'd appreciate the company.
However, I'm yet to work out any practicallities yet- eg. (and this is only an issue because I'm female- if I was a guy it'd be bottles all the way!) like is there a toilet anywhere near by and is it really safe- but then homeless people have to experience this every night- sure I can survive one.
And all this is depended on whether Damo decides he won't trust me with such a preciouse assignment as getting us U2 tickets which I may well fail misserably a 2nd time- and will instead take the day off work and do it himself! and then if he fails I can only be dissapointed that we miss out without the guilt and feelings of I'm a failure and cursed! which is much more bearable! Would also mean I get to sleep in, in my own comfy bed.

Just let it be known- I was totally up for 'sleeping out for Music!!!" (and I may still have to)

Just stuff

This is just a me yabbering on post- so enjoy or ignore at will.

Had my last music therapy audition today and will be informed in a week how it went. So in a week I'll have to decide my destiny- for the next couple of years anyway. But thats cool, I'm up for the cahnge and challenge.

Last sun was at Urban Life 'church' (cafe/ community centre etc.) in ringwood. The drummer played on a Full electric drum kit- not just a couple of toms but a full one including high hat and bass drum. I've never seen a full electric kit so it was very exciting and got to have a go after the service. You know a church is deffinately 'emerging' when they have an electric kit!! (I'm very much jokeing btw)

But it was also really great to both see and hear about how they were as a church getting out into the community and doing stuff. THis is something that really gets me down at Baysie for quite a while now with the whole lazy 'thats nice,you can do it and good on you but I'm ok' which is deffinately getting better though. But you know people at Baysie are doing stuff just outside of the church. Talking with one of older ladies and she goes all the way into the childrens hospital in the city and helps out doing admin stuff as a volunteer, one of the older men transports people to and from Knox hospital for free- and I'm sure there are so many more stories we've never heard. Why do we never hear any of this stuff! Where is the balence between modesty and being open as a church. I really want to do something together as a church and kids hope is something. But also like to organsise something as worship at an evening service and haven't yet partly from a lack of any practical ideas, my lack of organisation at times and also a feeling of others not being that into it or wanting to help me out (which is not me having a go because it's more likely just me feeling this and it being completely me being stupid!).
But if anyone has any practical ideas in the Baysie area I'd be happy to hear.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

The hidden prayer

(THis is a long one but liked it because is addresses the, often struggled over, issue of prayer not by looking at how we can get what we want or be successful at it but just looking at what Jesus meant it to be and demonstrated.)

The Hidden Prayer
Luke 11: 1-13

By Erika Izquierdo, Peru


Now a day we find that mystical experiences are in vogue. We are not at all surprised anymore to see the gurus, of different oriental religions, successfully calling their followers to prayer in the midst of overcrowded agendas. People have a thirst for silence, for contemplation, but more than anything for disconnecting themselves. In this age of prefabrication, artificiality, appearances, where what matters is the external image because the content is non-existent, is it very easy to “camouflage” our lack of commitment to the world with what appears to be a fervent spiritual practice.

This spiritual fever is spilling into even our Christian communities. Today there are tons of suggestions for how to pray “effectively.” For Christians it is no longer enough to talk to God, we want to see “results.” For this reason some of our contemporary “teachers” fill the Christian bookstores with fundamental tips that teach us how to get what we want through prayer. For these “teachers”, it is essential to pray “specifically” for what we want, to visualize it, proclaim it and well, they say this never fails, to end by quoting one of those Bible verses that puts God “in check;” like the one that appears in Luke 11:10 for example: “because he who asks, will receive…”.

In the same way, in Jesus’ time the oppression that the people of Israel were under made them cry out fervently to God for change. However, this was a nation that was accustomed to praying with a series of significant, historical rituals through which they remembered God’s intervention. Prayer was a fundamental part of Jewish life. In fact, prayer in itself was no longer a novelty nor was it the privilege of a few; prayer was very common and available to everyone. Despite this, it is surprising to see how the way in which Jesus prayed was actually attractive to his disciple. This festive Jesus, full of life, who knows how to fully enjoy it and who, well, is not exactly an ascetic like John, is a reference on how to pray.

Luke does not tell us exactly how he prayed, the only thing he points out is that Jesus was praying separately from the group and that when he finished one of his disciples approached him asking for teaching. Obviously the way in which Jesus prayed had to be different, and very suggestive, in order for the disciple to have been motivated to ask Jesus to teach them. What first catches our attention is that, contrary to what religions teach us, this passage does not stop to show Jesus describing a specific posture that the body must assume during prayer. Instead, this text shows us that the Master was more concerned with showing his disciples the content of a conversation with God.

The first phrase of this prayer has to do with God’s introduction to us. When we start a conversation we must never lose sight of the one with whom we are sustaining that conversation. This is why the beginning of our prayer talks about God’s identity and character. Jesus starts out by saying: Our Father. This is a very particular way of understanding the relationship that we are able to establish with God; a relationship of love and care that flows from Him toward us. And just as no father is subject to the will of his child, we must not forget that in addition to love, with this affirmation, we are also declaring our respect for who He is. In the same way, it is very gratifying to know that, as children, we have the great potential of becoming like this Father who is entirely good and just.

When Jesus points out that God is in heaven, he is not referring to the concept of place that we understand today. Neither is the heaven of which Jesus speaks found on the map that Dante Alighieri produced during the Middle Ages. He is referring to the cosmos, to the universe that is everything and of which God is the author and omnipresent inhabitant. To recognize that God is in heaven, as it has just been described, is to understand his sovereignty. When Jesus talks about the name of the Father being hallowed, he is proclaiming God’s authenticity and supremacy. Hallowed, or holy, means “set apart,” therefore to hallow God’s name means to set him apart from others who would pretend to be gods. It means to isolate him from any kind of comparison. In addition, in Jewish culture, the meaning of a name determined the identity of that being, therefore “to hallow” his name is also to preserve that which He is.

That God’s kingdom should come never ceases to amaze us at first glance. It is all the more astonishing when we have the idea that the kingdom of God is a place to which one has to go. To ask for it to come therefore seems very odd if we believe that the kingdom is a location to which we believers will go after dying. But we can see that this is not the case when we read carefully the infinite number of parables and definitions that Jesus gives to describe the kingdom during his ministry. The kingdom is the “kingship” or the “reign” of God, and where God reigns there can be relationships of justice and well being established for all people and all creation. Therefore, the kingdom is not a place, nor is it a physical location; it is rather a perfect condition of fullness of life. That is God’s very good will for all of us, and that is why we should not limit its execution.

Up to this point we have the introduction of the main character with whom we speak when we pray. The second part of this prayer has to do with presenting ourselves before God. What a different introduction from the one God makes to us! First of all we must recognize before Him, and ourselves, that we are needy beings, with an infinite number of problems and concerns. Foremost among these is one that Jesus, who is poor like the majority of those who live on this earth, knows well: it is the fear of hunger, our concern for our need to sustain ourselves with daily food; bread that is ours, but that can be taken from us by the selfishness and greed that prevail in the world.

Nevertheless, as Jesus already mentioned once in the desert, man shall not live on bread alone. It is necessary for him to restore his relationships, all his relationships. Jesus reveals to us that this restoration is not automatic; one can only ask for forgiveness when one has learned how to forgive. God places a condition here. That is, if we have not assimilated the fact that we must forgive others, we will never be able to conceive, let alone experience, the forgiveness that God offers us. If we have not learned this fundamental lesson, it will be very difficult for us to be able to be a part of his kingdom. To not fall into temptation, is not the equivalent of some dark game of God’s, through which He seeks to have fun with our inability to evade the sinful stimulants that come our way. God is not a trickster. When we cry out to him to lead us not into temptation, what we are asking is for his protection so that we may make it without falling through those situations of human degradation that we walk every day. Jesus also knows that our human sense of self-preservation would never upset God; that is why, in that same vein, he encourages us to ask God to “deliver us from evil.”

At this point we could conclude that the prayer is finished. It would seem that the only thing missing is an ‘Amen’. Nevertheless, Jesus has not finished his teaching on prayer. The text goes on to show that Jesus turns the teaching tone, which until now has characterized the prayer, into a huge question, which he situates in the context of everyday life. The Master does this with his characteristic humour using a detailed description of a situation that could happen to any of his fellow countrymen.

The situation has to do with Jewish hospitality. According to it, if someone came to your house to ask for shelter, you had to give it to him “no matter what time it was.” Not only did you have to give this person lodging but you also had to protect him; and well, this also implied feeding him. The situation that Jesus describes within his questions tells us of three characters: the owner of the house, the friend who has arrived from far away and the probable neighbour to whom the owner of the house goes to ask for food at midnight. Jesus identifies the owner of the house with he who is praying. And as it is not difficult for us to imagine, the disgruntled neighbour is God, our Father, who if for no other reason than because we have bothered him so much, will in the end open the door and give us the provision we have asked of him. But, for whom is the bread?

Whoever arrives at a Jewish home at midnight does not do so for frivolous reasons. It has to be someone who has arrived from a trip after traversing a dangerous and desolate road in the darkness. A person who has completed such a journey is exhausted, full of fear, dust and hunger. Jesus says that this traveller was a “friend” of the owner of the house, one whom he feels obligated to protect even though he does not have the resources to sustain even himself. For a Jewish person not to have even one piece of bread in the house was a sign of severe poverty, not just a matter of carelessly forgetting to stock provisions. Bread was something people ate daily in those days. To not have bread, meant that the owner of the house was going through a difficult time.

But this man, even in the midst of his own economic crisis, was able to recognize and try to meet the need of another. He was even willing to bother his neighbour at midnight in order to ask him for some provision that he might offer this tired traveller. It is here that Jesus urges his disciples to be like this man when they pray, and it is in this context that we find that encouraging phrase “ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Interestingly enough this verse is not about asking for oneself, but about asking, even in the midst of personal scarcity, for he who is also in need. This is the third part of our prayer, and the determining one; to know who God is and to recognize our own needs is not enough, we must also look after “others.”

The prayer that Jesus taught us is not limited to a conversation with God about ourselves. Jesus knows how confining it can be to perceive our relationship with the Father in this manner. In this way our God is very different from other gods; the purpose of our identity as his children does not merely rest in our relationship with Him, but also in our relationships with other people, and even more so with those who are in need. This is the third part of the prayer that none of us has learned to pray; in it Jesus invites us, despite our own personal poverty, to diligently care for the needs of another and not just ourselves. The sincerity of such a petition is what gives Jesus authority to proclaim that the Father will hear our prayer and that when we seek him and call for him, He will come to our aide.

Jesus concludes by saying that God is not a politician in the middle of a campaign, who promises everything but in the end does not deliver. The Father does not respond to the needs of people with cheap imitations, He would never answer a prayer fraudulently. He is not a swindler who gives dangerous imitations in return for what we ask on others’ behalf. For this reason He will never give us a snake when we ask for a fish, nor stone when we ask for bread, much less a scorpion when we ask for an egg. God is not a phoney who plays with our hunger. It is in this entire context of praying for the needs of others that the Lord says that the Father will send his Holy Spirit to anyone who asks. To have the Holy Spirit in our lives is to give testimony to his fruits, all of which are related to fellowship; that is, to relationships between human beings. The promise that god will give his Holy Spirit to those of us who ask it of him has to do with the unified, diligent and compassionate relationships that we sustain with others. In other words, in the end, “to pray for another” with real concern shows that the Holy Spirit is in our midst.

The novel lesson of the prayer Jesus taught his disciples that day was that praying is not merely talking, rather it is an attitude of life by which we demonstrate that conversation with God transforms us and humanizes us, thereby inviting us to try to diligently care for the needs of others, even in the midst of our own poverty. Our Father is the promoter of mercy among human beings. He is the God of those moments of fullness of love when we reach out a hand to another, as an advance on that which is certain.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Mim's Superior Mind!!!

There are 3 things which I constantly get picked on about and after much useless thought I have offically decided, with backing up evidence, that in all 3 issue my mind is superior and anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong!
The 3 issues are-
1. I call the long things you wear on the lower half of your body trousers and the short version you wear underneath undies.
2. The room in my house between the laundery and the hall is called the 'playroom'.
3. Any red/lump/itchy/ annoying thing on my body is an 'itchy bite'!

OK now let me explain/provide evidence/prove how I'm correct.

1. I blame this one on the fact that I have an Irish dad, English Grandma but an Aussie mum and a myself an Aussie. The Brittish call the long version 'trousers' and the short,wear them underneath(unless your superman) version 'pants'. Aussies however, call the long version 'pants' and the short version 'undies'. Me, being the rebal that I am, use trousers and undies. But this also makes me superior because- there is no was you can confuses what I mean. Trousers can only be trousers and undies can only be undies, there's none of this 'now by saying 'pants' do you mean long or short version?'. no, there's no confusion, except for the fact that I get picked on in both countries for being wrong! I'm happy in the knowledge I may be wrong but I also smarter!!

2. The 'playroom' issue. Yes I know I'm 20, nearly 21 but it's still 'the playroom' not a rumpus room! And again I have solid reasoning and logic to back this up- my piano is in the 'playroom'. I 'play' my piano! I don't rump my piano. What is rumping anyway? I have never knowingly rumped in my life. The only rump I can think of is 'rump steak' and I eat that in the dinning room. The only other logic I could come up with to support my enemies is that it should be called a 'rompus' room as in a room to romp around in. But the only person I've every heard use that phrase is my mum, so not sure it counts!

3. Itchy bites! that is my technical term which I feel is far better than mosquito bites! I honestly don't know a lot about either insects or medicine so I don't feel that I can always, 100%, self diagnose every bite I get. whats the diff between a mossies bite and a marsh fly bite or a small spider bit- I don't know! All I know is that it's itchy- therfore calling it an itchy bite means I'm never wrong!

So thats it! There's the proof! pick on me all you want but I know who is superior and I stand by my quirks!