Category Archives: college

Question time…. ???

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At night church, each week after the sermon we have question time, often referred to as ‘roast the preacher’. Since I started at St A’s I have been mulling over in my head Paul’s instructions to women in 1 Corinthians 14 and how or if this has implications for women during question time at church.

1 Corinthians 14:33 – 35 says

As in all the churches of the saints, the women should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but should be submissive, as the law also says. And if they want to learn something, they should ask their own husbands at home, for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church meeting.

So many questions come out of this for me. Here are some of them –

  • Does this mean women shouldn’t ask questions in question time?
  • Does the prohibition of speaking refer back to the speaking in tongues and prophesying that is discussed in verses 26 – 33? If so how does this prohibition of women prophesying relate to Paul’s teaching in chapter 11 that should pray and prophesy with her head covered?
  • If a women is to learn by asking her husband at home, how is a single woman to learn? What about a woman with a non-believing husband?
  • If it is ok for a single woman to asks questions but not a married woman, does this need to be explained every week? Would that make the whole concept of question time more unhelpful than helpful?
  • Is this instruction only related to learning, or does this have implications for woman reading the bible, or leading prayers in church??

I’m sure that this is just the beginning of a long process of learning for me from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. While this has been on my mind for a while, I am yet to really take a closer look at this passage and its implications.

Would love to hear your thoughts?

Thanks :)

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Here is a quick update on my last post.


My book review is looking good – only 400 words to go! And they can easily wait until Monday.
Sunday school is all prepped, and I’m ready (although fairly nervous) to do my first kids talk at church.
So, while I am still overwhelmed by the year ahead, I am feeling better.

Thanks to guys who offered to help my with various things – you rock!

I also wanted to let you all know how blessed I feel to be under the care of such amazing faculty at college. It’s always nice to hear that its ok to be feeling stressed and its ok to take time off when you need to. And thats exactly what I needed to hear today – so thanks to the lecturer who noticed I wasn’t around and took the time to care for me.



Stress….

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Here is why I am a basket case.

In 6 days my first assessment for second year is due. It is a book review, and while I am finished the book I will be reviewing I feel like I could read books from now until the end of time and still not totally understand the issue involved.
But 6 days is plenty of time to write 2000 words, right?? Except that on Saturday I have a wedding to go to – actually to be a part of, While I am delighted to be involved in the wedding it does mean that suddenly my 6 days is down to 5 (not including tonight because we have the rehearsal).
Sunday I am at church most of the day so now 5 days goes down to 4. Also I realize that in the next 2 days I need to prepare for Sunday school as well as my first ever kids talk in church.
Suddenly I am feeling panicked.

So what am I doing now?? Well after sitting in traffic for 2 hours to get to Penrith for the rehearsal I am filling in the ½ hour until we start but having a well earned coffee and realizing that sitting in a café with your macbook is not so common here as it is in Newtown.

Now that I think about it, this is not the only reason that I am a basket case but it is certainly the most predominate at the minute.

John Piper responds to N.T. Wright

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My first assessment for second year is due in one week. It is a 2000 word book review. The book I choose to review is ‘The Future of Justification’ by John Piper. 

If you haven’t heard of the book, it is a response to another well known and popular theologian, N.T. Wright. 

One of the things that has struck me the most as I read the book was how respectful Piper is in his critique of Wright’s work. Obviously he rights about an issue that they disagree on, never the less page 3 of the introduction says: 

Nicholas Thomas Wright is a British New Testament scholar and the Anglican Bishop of Durham, England. He is a remarkable bled of weighty academic scholarship, ecclesiastical leadership, ecumenical involvement, prophetic social engagement, popular Christian advocacy, musical talent and family commitment. As critical as this book is of Wright’s understanding of the gospel and justification, the seriousness and scope of the book is a testimony to the stature of his scholarship and the extent of his influence. I am thankful for his strong commitment to Scripture as his final authority, his defense and celebration of the resurrection of the Son of God, his vindication of the deity of Christ, his belief in the virgin birth of Jesus, his biblical disapproval of homosexual conduct, and the consistent way he presses us to see the big picture of God’s universal purpose for all peoples through the covenant with Abraham and more.

While Piper works hard to show the biblical errors in Wright’s views, he has humility as he does it. He speaks of Wright with great respect, knowing that while they may disagree they share a great unity through Christ.


Piper says this later in his introduction:

My little earthly life is too far spent to care much about the ego gratification of scoring points in debate. I am still a sinner depending on Christ for my gratification or regret. Among these greater things are faithful preaching of the gospel, the care of guilt-ridden souls, the spiritual power of sacrificial deeds of love, the root of humble Christian political and social engagement, and the courage of Christian missions to confront all the religions of the world with the supremecy of Christ as the only way to escape the wrath to come.

All too often I think we all forget that these things come so far in front of our need to score points and win the argument. We are puffed up by our sense of being right and forget our real status as sinners who have no knowledge or hope apart from the grace of God.  


And so I pray for us all the prayer Piper finishes his intro with:

May the Lord give us help in these days to see the word of his grace with clarity, and savour it with humble and holy zeal, and spread it without partiality so that millions may believe and be saved, to the praise of the glory of God’s grace. 

Amen.

A year group of change????

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This weekend was the 2nd year house party. We went to a place called Attunga which was a great site for a weekend away.


On the drive home I was thinking further about some things that we had talked about over the last 2 days. When I got home I type some of the things I was thinking. Here is my disclaimer – I was very tired when I wrote this (and still am now) so sorry if it doesn’t completely make sense. I was initially planning to e-mail this out to my year group but here it is instead. I would love your thoughts on it.


Thanks everyone for a great weekend!

I wanted to share some further thoughts that I had flowing from the last session today. For those who weren’t able to be there, Nick M lead us through some group discussions on Organisational Culture – AKA ‘how we do things around here’. Basically we chatted about what kind of year we would like to be, and be known as.

I had a 2 hour drive home to think further about the conversations we had in our group. It was a great discussion but as I was driving the pessimist in me started wondering if anything would actually change.

I was trying to summarise what I would like our year to be like, in a few sentences and was really struggling but I found it helped to think about what I don’t want us to be like.

I DON’T want us to be a year who finds a problem and discusses it and either ends with that, or keeps discussing the issue for the next few years with little resolve to make a difference. I DO want us to be a year that finds a problem, discusses it, prays about it, and CHANGES it.
I assume we have all come to college because we love Jesus and want to change the world for the gospel. There’s no need for us to wait until we finish college to start doing that, because it starts with us. Lets us be seen as group who strives for godliness and together talks, prays and changes things. Let that be not our legacy, but the legacy of the great gospel we believe!

As I type this I’m thinking – how easy it is to say this stuff but how do we do it?? Its always hard to get beyond the ideal and into the practical, but it just takes one person to start – please don’t be afraid to be that person. I think it will take lots of trial and error, perseverance, grace and love. And it will take us encouraging one another.

I hope you were encouraged this weekend that even though we are jars of clay, we are filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered to change the world. I want to spend the next 2 or 3 years talking about things with you, praying about things with you and changing things with you.

As Dave said, it will be great in 30 years if we look at Societas 2009 and see people who still love the gospel, and proclaim Christ! I think it will also be great if we see people who are out in the world talking, praying and changing our churches, work places, families & communities for Jesus sake. So lets start now.

Weekend Away

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Last weekend was the first year weekend away. This is a weekend organised by the Orientation Committee with a view to helping the first years (and especially the non-studying spouses) to start to get to know each other and form some good relationships. My own first year weekend away was overwhelming but very worth while and important for me in terms of getting to know people beyond the point of ‘whats your name again?’. From what I saw everyone seemed to have a good time this year.


The primary role for the Orientation Committee once we get to the weekend away is to provided creche for most of the time we are there. So I was doing baby creche for most of the weekend. Kids are not really my thing and I was pretty bummed about not getting to be in the sessions that were happening and not getting to socialise as much as I would like. But that changed Sunday afternoon. There was a couple whose son was in creche for the first time this weekend. When they picked him up for the last time on Sunday afternoon his mum (who I had never met before she dropped him off to creche) came and hugged me and thanked me for looking after him. She explained that since he was born she rarely gets to sit next to her husband in church, or enjoy singing songs or hearing sermons anymore. She was so thankful that she had been able to do that on the weekend. Her gratitude suddenly made me feel thankful that I had been able to serve her and others in such a practical and yet simple way. It also made me wish I had served them more joyfully. 

Wisdom from Calvin

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My exploration of the blogosphere in the last few days have lead me to discover the nasty side of life and the blogging world. I stumbled across some pages of people from the UK who harshly slander people across the world (by name) with very little truth or justification from what I can tell. It saddens me that these men profess faith in God, yet openly criticise anyone who suggests that the bible is God’s authority, in one post comparing a minister in a Sydney church to the taliban and a rabid dog.


As I sit and wonder what it would take to convince them of the truth of the bible, something I have recently read from Calvin comes to mind –

“But those who wish to prove to unbelievers that scripture is the Word of God are acting foolishly, for only by faith can this be known.”

And so I pray for these unbelievers, that God will give them faith that will lead them to truth, and that the truth they learn will set them free.

The beginning of a new year…

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I discovered early last year that every student at Moore College is assigned to a committee for the year. There are many different types of committees from music to computers to evangelism (can you believe we need a committee for that!!) and I was delighted when I was put on the orientation committee (amusingly referred to as the OC). There are 3 main things that we do. First is to organise the orientation bbq at the year of the end for the following years incoming students. Second is to organise the 1st year house party which is the weekend after next. Third is that we hang around during 1st year’s Greek weeks (this is the 3 weeks prior to college starting, when no-one else is around and Greek is high on the priority list).


2009’s first years students started yesterday, so for the last few days we have been working hard to welcome them, helping them move into Carillon and Chappo house, organising social get togethers, giving tours, talking lots about college life etc etc. Its been a fun and exhausted few days.

Its been great to spend time getting to know these fellow students of mine, and especially those who will be fellow housemates (or living across the road). The last few days, thought, have brought back vivid memories of my own first week at Carillon House and Moore College. It was a big adjustment to suddenly live, learn, eat and socialise with the same people day after day. But God is great and gave me great friends both at college and church and so here I am back for another round! So I thank God for the great times, and I pray he will use the hard times to encourage others and glorify his name.

And to those who have just joined this crazy and wonderful experience I say remember ‘when times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other’ (Ecclesiastes 7:14) and then remember your never alone.

More thoughts on community.

The year behind me

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This year has been perhaps the greatest and worst year of my life so far. So its quite a big task to write about it. Hopefully in the near future I’ll figure out how to do that but for now let me say I am glad it is over – although the wait for results is going to be long….

Having reached the end of a tumultuous year I need to give a big thank you to everyone who has loved, prayed for, supported and encouraged me this year. You have made this year a little easier and a great deal better – I hope I can return the favour sometime. And enormous thanks and praise to our our great God who has blessed me with the gift of wonderful friends – I hope you all know who you are!


“Two are better than one because they have good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10



Good stress relief

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My favourite things to do to relieve exam/study stress –

1. Go for a walk with a good friend to UB’s for coffee – surprisingly this is less about the coffee and more about the walk and company
2. Watching something good on tv – at the moment the viewing of choice is The West Wing
3. Have a nice hot bubble bath – due to the lack of a bath this is yet to happen but I’m looking forward to enjoying the bath at my folks place on the weekend

Any other suggestions???