Author: Peter Hallett

Utterance hits 6000, blogs top 110 million

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Today Utterance ticked over 6001 hits, after my somewhat reckless New Year’s resolution to attempt to post every day.

Like most bloggers, once I got into the habit of regularly recording my thoughts for the benefit (or otherwise) of others, the issue becomes having too many things to say, and not enough time.

It’s interesting to consider that there are more than 110 million blogs in the world today but blogging only began in 1994, with one of the very first being  by Chicago-born Justin Hall, sometimes described as ‘the founding father of personal blogging.’ That’s some growth rate…

At the same time as blogging had its meteoric growth, the genre of creative non-fiction also increased rapidly in popularity and today is one of the most successful forms of literature.

Creative non-fiction is the presenting of substance in a literary style, or applying the technique of story to facts.

We all know instinctively that people love to tell and hear stories much more than be confronted with flat slabs of information. (How often have you found yourself re-telling a true-life illustration a preacher gave in a sermon, and not recalling much else?)

The idea is not new of course and the Gospel writers, if not inventing the genre, certainly perfected it as they told the factual story of Jesus’ life in a way that continues to compel, thousands of years later.

Would Jesus have blogged? Not likely, he gives his life and his Spirit, something much greater. But Matthew, Mark, Luke and John almost certainly would have been bloggers. Hopefully I do them justice. PH

PS. To celebrate 6000 + hits I’ve introduced a new theme for Utterance – quite a departure from the very neat and today theme I’ve been using. But then again, my life has got rather more loose ends than it had a few months ago, so it’s probably fitting!

Apple, Wikipedia push back porn

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Apple CEO, Steve Job, fresh from launching the Ipad and Iphone 4, has apparently taken a stand to keep pornography out of applications for these devices.

In doing so he has been congratulated by many who support his aversion for porn, but he’s also raised the almost maniacal ire of the rampant ‘don’t you dare censor my internet use’ community, made up largely of pale men in their 30s and 40s.

‘…we do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone. Folks who want porn can buy an[d] Android phone,’ he is reported to have said in an email.

He defended his position when criticised by the Gawker blog, saying the Apple ‘revolution’ was about freedom, including ‘freedom from porn.’

At the same time, Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia’s founder, has come under fire after personally deleting ‘many’ images he deemed pornographic from the digital encyclopaedia.

Just when you were losing hope for humanity… PH

Ethic classes – ‘new atheism’ in poor disguise

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As the debate rages over the trial of ethic classes as an alternative to Scripture in state schools, those in favour of the new program ask, in a smugly reasonable tone, ‘Why can’t the churches respect parents’ right to choose?’

As if that is all that is really at stake. As if this is really just about a choice between your child going to Scripture, ethics or having a half-hour break.

What it is really about, and why some churches are fighting so hard, is the final and complete secularisation of public schools, fueled by the rampant new atheism which views religion as poison.

No matter what politically correct sounding arguments emerge from both camps, at stake is the privilege of access to public schools.

The goal of the new ethic classes is to so threaten the status and viability of Scripture that it will eventually disappear.

Of course the Minister for Education will never say that, in public, nor the proponents of ethic classes. But you can hear it slipping through in an odd angry shot at the Anglicans or the Catholics during media debates, and it is rampant in the unofficial grassroots commentary.

My children attended a school that did not have Scripture, in which recognition of Easter and Christmas was completely secular. Christmas carols were out, ‘seasonal songs’ were in.

Parents of faith often felt under siege and so desolate was the atmosphere of the place, I eventually pleaded to be allowed to organise an assembly that in a light-hearted way, told the real Christmas story.  One half hour in an entire year…

So what is at stake is not so much the to and fro over Scripture and ethics. It is the choice between a completely secular atheistic system or one where there is some decent recognition that people of faith exist.

But we shouldn’t be surprised by these battles. The secularisation of society has been raging for many years and, in reality, the institutional power of the church (which gave it the right to Scripture classes) has long been in decay.

Christian commentators such as Joel Edwards of Micah Challenge have said that the church needs to accept the demise of institutional power, and take up the opportunity of grassroots influence.

Newer churches, such as the Pentecostals, have never had institutional power which is why they have been so much better at grassroots influence.

Maybe the way to win the current battle, is for Scripture and the Christian communities of inner city to be so vibrant, so alive, so full of grace and power, so full of kindness and generosity and love, so authentic in relationships across dividing lines, that instead of relying on ancient privilege, they benefit from a new invitation to participate in schools, organisations and communities… PH

Shroud evidence delights believers and sceptics in turn

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The 2D Shroud image transformed by 3D computer graphics

Weeks after posting a story about new three-dimensional imaging of the Shroud of Turin, Utterance continues to field search inquiries about the Shroud from around the world.

Fascination with this enigmatic cloth apparently never ends and no doubt has been heightened with the Shroud’s first public display in 10 years having just ended at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin.

Another factor is the quest for faith or unfaith as some seek in the Shroud evidence of Jesus’s reality while others continue the quest to disprove him.

While Christ’s reality does not hinge on the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin (there are many other historical evidences), it is still a powerful symbol of faith for millions of Christians and a ‘thorn in the flesh’ for secular atheists.

Two recent Shroud findings are split between supporters and detractors. 

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No Christmas joy for Charlie despite $2 million a week

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Charlie Sheen is America’s highest paid television star, being paid $2 million for each episode of Two and a Half Men.

Despite this, somehow he found himself so desperate, angry and dysfunctional that he held a knife to his wife’s throat on Christmas Day and threatened to kill her.

If that doesn’t convince us that fame and fortune are not the real source of happiness, nothing will. Not even a Man rising from the dead… PH

Kevin Sheedy votes for Jesus

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Jesus made yet another appearance on ABC TV’s Q and A program tonight and gained the support of legendary AFL coach, Kevin Sheedy.

The divine moment came when panelist, NSW Liberal Pru Goward, was lamenting the intense public scrutiny politicians experienced and said in such conditions, even Jesus wouldn’t look good all the time.

Federal Liberal Scott Morrison, at the other end of the panel, said he didn’t agree with that but Goward only reitirated her point.

Sheedy then spoke up, suggesting Jesus would look good, regardless of the scrutiny and finished by saying, ‘I’d vote for Jesus’.

Me too Kevin… Hey maybe that’s why the AFL is doing so well in the battle of the football codes… PH

Thou, our and thy but no me, my and I

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation
For thine is the kingdom, the power and glory
Forever and ever, Amen.

So reads the Lord’s Prayer or the ‘Our Father’ as I learned it as a child. It was not so much a single prayer that Jesus taught his disciples but a way of praying (see Matthew 6:9-13). Nevertheless it is a much-loved Christian prayer that has been prayed hundreds of billions of times.

I was using it as a way to guide my praying in the middle of the night recently, pausing on each phrase and thinking and praying around its intent, when something simple and profound stopped me.

I realised, as I must have already known but forgotten, that there are no I’s or me’s in the prayer. The only pronouns refer to God (thy/your) and us or our.

Which reminds us that the heart of prayer is to focus on God and to see ourselves as part of a community. Prayer, and the Christian walk, are not solitary occupations.

When Jesus taught prayer he lived and moved with 12 disciples and numerous other close followers, both men and women. He visited homes and families and turned strangers into friends. He called out to God as father and sought not his own will, ‘but your will be done’.

For this reason, it was natural he would prayer ‘our Father’ rather than ‘my Father’ and ‘give us’ daily bread and forgiveness and guidance, not ‘give me’.

The one time he did cry out ‘my God, my God’ was when doing something unique – carrying the world’s sin and shame solely in his own being on the Cross. How lonely he must have been to do so. Perhaps we too are more inclined, but from a less holy position, to focus our prayers on ourselves when we feel lonely, isolated and despairing.

Maybe the antidote is not more self-focused prayer, but to break out again into community and find the reality of praying ‘our Father’. PH

Flourishing grace blooms despite grey skies

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While the sun shines today, the past two weeks in Sydney have seen almost constant rain, clouds and cold with the occasional blustery wind to ensure we all got wet more than once.

The plants around our courtyards, while at first welcoming the moisture, after a week or so seem to be putting their hands up and saying, ‘we’ve had enough’.

Not so one humble plant, stoically located in a pot near our front door. Just as the weather reports began to be filled with news of east coast lows and torrential rains, our welcome plant was, for the first time, putting forth flower buds.

And as the grey skies took over and the constant rain fell, it broke out in a lavish display of petulant pink, protesting against the bleakness, bowing down under its load of large flowers. Guests even stopped to take photos, umbrellas close at hand.

Now the plant’s inaugural show of joy and colour has won out, the rain has given up but the pink flowers live on, welcoming the sun back with barely a ‘I told you so’.

The words ‘bloom where you are planted’ crossed my mind more than once as I regularly dashed past the floral version of a pink flamingo. How inspiring that you would defy the grey and bloom anyway, I thought.

The Creator’s hand was evident, not just in the flowers, but in the timing and the message. Am I willing to be what God has made me to be despite the grey clouds and gloomy outlook? Am I so convinced of his goodness that I will by all means display it regardless of the outlook?

Do I realise the awful power of a loving rightness carried forward by God’s Spirit and alive within me, unquenched by circumstance? Will I allow the flourishing grace of God to choose the time and place for colour and new life? PH

Not enough justice for juvenile justice minister

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Minister for Juvenile Justice Graham West was shocked when Father Chris Riley from Youth of the Streets rang him this week.

Together they had worked successfully towards an innovative plan to build four bail houses to keep young offenders out of detention while they await trial.

Mr West had fought hard to get agreement from his government colleagues for the houses, as part of his over-arching desire to assist the disadvantaged. But something was wrong, very wrong.

The Department of Commerce had dumped the project without informing the minister and it was only when Father Riley rang that he heard the news.

‘He had believed he had won the fight in terms of funding and he was shocked when I called him and said he knew nothing about it,’ Father Riley told the Sydney Morning Herald.

So distressed was Mr West that he rang Premier Christina Keneally and resigned, later saying he had been thinking about the decision for some time.

Father Riley said he would reconsider on the weekend his position on the Premier’s Homelessness Advisory Council because of Labor’s treatment of Mr West.

‘I’ve been fighting juvenile justice ministers and the law and order agenda for 20 years and finally in Graham we had a minister with real vision,” he said.

”I wonder where this government is going when it stamps on people such as Graham, who is a good man who got it right.”

Mr West, a devout Catholic, entered politics out of a desire to pursue social justice – let’s hope he gets another opportunity to pursue this agenda.

Eternity Christian Church Campbelltown is working tirelessly in NSW juvenile justice centres and no doubt will be sad to Mr West go. He visited and commended they’re homework centre ar Reiby juvenile justice centre. PH

Jesus making news for his leadership example

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What would Jesus do? doesn’t always appear to be the question at the top of the list for politicians but businessman Lindsay Fox says it should be when it comes to leadership.

He’s advised Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to take a leaf out of Jesus Christ’s unwritten book of leadership and delegate some authority to his disciples.

Speaking on ABC Television today, the trucking boss, one of Australia’s most respected and richest business leaders, said Mr Rudd needed a lesson in delegating.

‘You have to delegate some authority [to ministers],’ Mr Fox said.

‘In the case of Jesus Christ, he had 12 disciples and those disciples carried his message long after he was gone.’

Not enough was being heard from Mr Rudd’s ‘disciples’, as his standing with voters tumbles in opinion polls.

‘You can’t run a government unless you’re a total democratic dictator and there’s only been a few of them in the world in the last 50 years,’ Mr Fox said.

While Mr Fox is correct in saying Jesus did not write down any of his leadership principles – making his success all the more impressive – his followers did record his words and actions.

They can be found in four eyewitness accounts, named after their authors, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. If you are an inspiring leader, read them for yourself by clicking on the links or leave a comment asking for written copies, and I’ll get them to you. PH

One brain for double the information – every 18 months

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Some years ago I heard it said that there was more information in a Saturday newspaper than a person from the 17th century would experience in a life time.

Now this from Seth Godin: 

‘Redoubling to system failure

Every 18 months for the last decade, the world has doubled the data it pushes to you.

Twice as much email, twice as many friend requests, twice as many sites to check, twice as many devices.

When does your mind lose the ability to keep up? Then what happens? Is it already happening?’

Seth is a champion of the inter-connectivity of the internet and technology – if he’s worried, we should take note. PH

Two ways to support City to Surf fund-raising

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As the rain keeps falling I’m trying to work out how I’m going to keep my training schedule up tonight… with an umbrella no doubt!

Anyway, the good news is that I’m registered for the City to Surf and have set-up not one, but two fundraising pages!

Firstly I’ve signed up with the Bible Society to help put much-needed Bibles into Scripture classes in public schools across the state. If you’d like to support this cause, visit the Towards The Goal fund-raising page .

Then City to Surf automatically give you the chance to support a charity so I chose World Vision, a great Christian aid organisation, and you can support this cause by visiting my Everyday Hero fund-raising page.

And if you’d like to get involved, why not sign up for the City to Surf  and raise funds yourself. You could join our team – the Curly Toes and be added to our team fund-raising page, the Curly Toes Runners. We are starting as far back as you can – Orange I believe.

Many thanks in advance if you can help with sponsorship! PH

And then there were four…

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I have made a slight adjustment to Utterance in honour of my current preoccupation with fitness and the City to Surf.

A free copy of Transform Your Faith for the first person to comment on it. PH

Dynamic duo takes on City to Surf

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Ten weeks out from the City to Surf fun run I have started my disciplined training schedule to ensure I finish the event alive…

Today, accompanied by son Jeremy, who also plans to take on the City to Surf, we walked the inner west’s very popular Bay Walk , or according to some signage, the Bay Run (but not in our case…).

This was our second training effort and was preceded on Monday by a complex scurrying around the back streets of Glebe, Camperdown, Annandale and Leichhardt to come up with a 6km track.

To prove that we are actually doing the training and not watching Lord of the Rings (in which the cast do all the walking and running) I deployed the Sports Tracker application on my E71. Imagine my delight when I discovered the GPS traces a lovely little map which can be saved as a picture file.

This may well be the most accurate map of the Bay Walk yet recorded and I would like you to note the straight line at the top right of the diagram which depicts us walking, with purpose, across the Iron Cove Bridge.

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Are you what you do or something more?

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I caught a glimpse of a new television commercial, I think for the Commonwealth Bank, featuring a man walking along a dusty road, whispering regrets to himself.

‘If only I would do something instead of just thinking about what I might do’ he says, or something like that.

Sounds like a carefully market-researched sentiment inserted into an emotive scene to echo what most people have thought at one point or another. Or continually.

Then the screen splits and a second, identical man is seen walking purposefully the opposite direction down a paved, tree and building lined road. The first man stops and stares after him.

The words ‘You are what you do’ fade on to the screen, along with the bank logo.

The implicit suggestion is that by associating with this bank, we will move from the ranks of the regretful thinkers to the have-it-all doers.

I don’t think so… If what we do is the sum of who we are, then we immediately dismiss those who can’t measure up – and ultimately that is all of us.

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New site to help Christian voters

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The next Federal election is not far away and the key issues are more diverse and complex than ever.

Many Christians will be trying to discern what good voting looks like and also want to speak with faith, compassion and intelligence into the pressing issues facing our nation.

For this reason, Australian Christian Voter  has been launched to bring together in one place anything of relevance to Christian and other voters in the lead up to the election.

It includes links to lobby and social justice groups as well as political parties and candidates but because ACV is completely independent, it can summarise the most important news from all these sources and beyond.

And where ever possible, we’ll be sure to include the best of election humour…

Check it out now and save it in your favourites/bookmarks. When election fever strikes and campaign literature starts filling your letterbox, ACV may be just the help you need… PH

PS The ACV site is funded by some advertising through Google.

Bear Grylls a wild man of faith

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A few young Christian men I know got together recently with the big highlight of their evening being watching Man vs Wild featuring Bear Grylls.

Turns out it was a more spiritual activity than they may have realised with Grylls revealing this month in Relevant magazine that he is a strong Christian.

The wild life adventurer who allows himself to be dropped in remote locations so that he can be filmed attempting to survive, says that he had a ‘natural’ faith as a child, although hasn’t always found believing easy.

‘It’s been kinda a wiggly, messy journey which is still continuing,’ Grylls told Relevant, a description that might also suit his TV show.

‘Christianity is not about religion – it’s about faith, about being held, about being forgiven. It’s about finding joy, finding home.’

Turns out Grylls is an avid supporter of  Alpha, a 10 week introduction to the Christian faith, written and presented by Nicky Gumble of Holy Trinity Brompton.

Gumble, a mentor and friend, says of Grylls, ‘I think Bear has a very simple faith. And simple in the good sense of the word.  It’s a strong personal faith and he lives it out in his everyday life.’ PH

PS. Man vs Wild screens on SBS Mondays at 8.30pm and SBS says ‘the program has performed strongly since its debut with an average audience of 535,000 metro viewers.’

How atheism led me to faith…

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If several billion God believers can’t dint the unbelief of an atheist, perhaps just one family member’s faith might make the difference.

Christopher Hitchens is famous for his book God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything and is one of the poster boys of the new atheism secular liberalism. He was a special guest of this month’s Sydney Writers Festival as he promoted his memoir Hitch-22.

But while Christopher has been busy debating Christians and even threatening to have the Pope arrested, his brother Peter has rediscovered faith and published The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith.

As the Hitchens brothers’ books battle for bookstore ascendency, we see a microcosm of the struggle between belief and unbelief in the world.

While most atheists will cite logic and reason for the reason of their non-belief in God, behind this for many is a personal religious atrocity that has led them from grace. For Christopher Hitchens it may just have been the brutal, even sadistic regime he encountered at a church boarding school from the age of eight.

And while brother Peter went through his own atheistic ‘revelation’ it was not to last and his book now attacks the blind spots and flaws of atheistic argument.

There is no doubt much more to run in the story of these two men’s lives, and it is a reminder that wherever darkness seems to flourish, a resilient light is close at hand. Pray for Christopher and Peter Hitchens, that both would find themselves beneath the grace of God as they play a part on the world stage.

An excellent article on the belief and unbelief of the Hitchens brothers appears in the Fairfax media today . It is written by Simon Smart, the head of research and communications at the Centre for Public Christianity. PH

Dear CheapBranded, thanks for your caring email…

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My computer makes a doorbell sound, ‘ding-dong’, that used to be associated with Avon calling but is now better known as Windows default for a new email.

A shadowy preview of the new message appears in the lower right of my laptop screen and tells me it is from someone called ‘CheapBrandedViagra’.

(Just mentioning the word Viagra in my blog will send the spam protection software for this site into overdrive, such is the inter-connectedness – euphemism for lack of privacy – on the internet.)

A train of thought begins, thanks to my new friend CheapBranded, and I wonder if many of us realise how often we turn to the latest email, Facebook status, Twitter tweet or blog comment to fill deep emotional needs and stave of dreariness.

If our dearest friends are those who connect with us electronically, I have an amazing friend in CheapBranded as he has shown incredible determination to bypass not only my own spam protection, but that of my internet provider.

(I thought you should know I have worked with great commitment to avoid any unfortunate Viagra puns in this posting…)

But wait, perhaps CheapBranded is just that, not a caring friend who searched me out today with a loving email as my life faces precipitous change, but a cheap charlatan hoping to profit by pushing his brand at some perceived need.

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Leichhardt goes 24/7 for World Cup

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A boring looking letter arrived from Leichhardt Council yesterday, slightly damp from the persistent rain over Sydney.

Addressed to the householder, I was tempted to toss it (read recycle…) but decided to have a glance.

Turns out it was a development application covering virtually every cafe, hotel and restaurant on Norton St asking for permission to stay open 24/7 during the World Cup between June 11 and July 11! Talk about add some fire to winter!

The Forum, Norton Plaza and Palace Cinema are all included in the application – along with all the most authentic of Italian cafes.

Forget the soccer, I can’t wait to head down the street at 3am for gelato, cappuccino, amatriciana and some good old-fashioned Italian revelry!

Stay tuned for a blogestrated, middle-of-the-night, Italian food rendezvous (whoops, French origin word slipped in….) PH