Category: FindingFaith

Relentless, restless reading confessions

Peter HallettLeave a comment

People with blogs often tell other people, with or without blogs, about what they are reading. This may be to come across as a clever, readerish type or out of a genuine attempt to stimulate reading and discussion.

In my case I’m going to tell you what I’ve been reading because the litter of books next to my bed could be ignored no longer. I suddenly noticed it one day and thought, mmmm.

Anyway, here’s what I’m reading and feel free to use the comment facility with this post to inflict on me what you are reading. No, seriously, I’m generally interested! By the way, this reading does not include the portions of novels I am required to read for the publishing and editing courses I am doing which so far has included Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, James Bradley’s The Resurrectionist and Brett Easton Ellis’ Lunar Park (and that’s just the first week…). And then there is the constant noting of books other people are recommending in my lectures so that I now have a list of about 37 books that simply must be read…

But back to the leaf-litter around my bed:

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To be beheaded, and satisfied…

Peter HallettLeave a comment

Back in the early 1990s when I started out in pastoral ministry and church leadership there was a popular teaching used to inspire Christians to greater heights of service and vision.

‘There came a man sent by God, and his name was John’ reads John 1:6, speaking of John the Baptist.

We were asked to replace the name ‘John’ with our own to encourage us to believe we too had been called by God to do great things. Just as John the Baptist strode out into the Jordan and Judea in response to the call of God, so to we would make our mark on the world.

Of course there is a fine line between an ultruistic desire to change the world and egotistical need for recognition and I’m not entirely sure which was more developed by this reference.

That is not to say that God does not call people and that we should not have an unaffected, humble and life-changing sense of the purpose of God in our lives. Each one of us is significant beyond our comprehension, in terms of our seen and unseen influence on others but mostly because we matter to God.

But I don’t recall us, as we discussed this verse, following on from this starting point with John the Baptist through to the outcome of his call. John lived in the desert, wore animal skins, ate locusts, languished in prison, watched his finest disciples leave to follow another and was beheaded.

While Jesus called him greater than any Old Testament prophet, his entire ministry was designed to make way for another. One of John’s best known statements was that Jesus should become more, and himself less.

Serving God is ever the selfless act and if we substitute our own ambition for his glory we cross over into something different.

None of us carry off selflessness to perfection – even John the Baptist acknowledged a gradual retreat of his own name and a rising up of Christ’s. And many of us forget selflessness altogether and pursue ministry for selfish gain, cloaked in a spiritual mantle.

The telling will be in our ability to lay it down and celebrate its picking up by another. To be beheaded and satisfied that we have done well is the mark of Christian greatness. Now there’s a line we don’t see too often in leadership classes… PH

PS There might be something in this post for Kevin Rudd??!!

Social engagement not just for the few

Peter HallettLeave a comment

Scott Stephens is probably a good bloke doing a hard job, as editor of ABC Online’s Religion and Ethics portal.

But his July 19 blog post pretty much wrote off any Christian that engaged in politics (except maybe those he agrees with) and was full of stereotyping, arrogance and perhaps a slight trace of envy.

We are all good at that, if we are honest, aren’t we? So lets pray for him as on balance it is a positive thing that such a forum exists and a Christian is the editor.

His post attacking the Australian Christian Lobby, and among other things, Hillsong, gave the impression that unless you are a trendy, left-wing intellectual who reads Eureka St you shouldn’t climb the ivory tower of social engagement for fear of embarrassment.

That’s a pity because what we really want to do is educate Christians about social engagement, for the sake of the gospel, and the best way to do that is for us all to have a go, get kicked in the head a few times, learn some lessons, grow in humility and wisdom, and keep going…

Check out my response to his post.

Love enemies or become one…

Peter HallettLeave a comment

I think I’ve worked out why (apart from the obvious world peace and so on) Jesus told us not to hate our enemies, but to love them and pray for them.

If you hate your enemies, you will become like them. And then one day you’ll realise you hate yourself.

If your love your enemies, and pray for them, they might just become like your friends and love you back. Or if not, your still in front because you will still find it possible to love yourself and hopefully you will have spent a fair bit of time talking to God. Simple, isn’t it.

Are we missing the very frontline of faith?

Peter HallettLeave a comment

The Australian community is engaged in an extremely active and vigorous debate about the reality of God and I’m not sure the church at large is even aware it is going on.

While we faithful pray in our services and gatherings that God would move in our land, we may be missing the very answer to those prayers. (Try and stay with me my atheist readers, I know your blood pressure just rose at the mention of answered prayer.)

One of the first signs of spiritual revival might well be that people are even thinking about first order issues such as the origins and nature of life, is there supernatural or spiritual reality or only a material universe, and if religious claims are true how do we deal with many apparent contradictions and problems.

These kinds of questions are often and vigorously debated mainly in online forums and often in response to an increasing number of articles in the media addressing these questions from one perspective or another.

I can assure you this was not the case 10 or 20 years ago when most Australians didn’t want to discuss faith at all and where apathy and materialism (in this sense of material gain) seemed far more important.Read More »

Faith shines, undaunted by broken bodies

Peter HallettLeave a comment

I have witnessed holy moments this week, acts of faith largely unseen but shining brightly in an invisible kingdom. They have left me humbled and undone. The first I witnessed personally, the second through the eyes of others.

Standing in a rehabilitation hospital I am surrounded by septuagenarians and find myself playing the role of the younger generation, nice for a change.

The first stood, fire in his voice, to pray for his friend sitting in a wheelchair. The pray-er has this year come through life-threatening emergency surgery to remove a massive tumour that was destroying his spine. Remaining full of faith throughout, he feels more qualified to pray for healing, not less.

He wags his finger lovingly at his friend who finds herself in a wheelchair after tumbling down a cliff, breaking her neck and bruising her spinal column.  

‘Don’t ever think that God wouldn’t want to heal you just because you are old. He loves you unconditionally and wants you to have life to the full,’ he says. Read More »

Jeffry leaves us far too quickly

Peter Hallett1 Comment

One of the boys lingers after morning devotionsOne of the last times I saw Jeffry alive was as we gathered around a single candle flickering on the white tiled floor of the children’s home in Bali.

It was the first time that I had stayed overnight at the home and, although the home-parents had set me up in my own room with a fan, a blackout had left me too hot to sleep.

As I listened to the noises of the night – geckos, frogs, dogs, babies – it seemed only moments before I heard the sound of children and adults rising to share devotions.

As the children began to sing, I shuffled bleary eyed from my room and sat on the floor among them. We sang to Jesus, candle shining, and the tiles providing at least some coolness.

Jeffry was there, nurturing the candle as boys love to do, singing with the others his love for God.

Later that morning – it was still only about 7am – I enjoyed a specially procured breakfast of fried bananas and took photos of some of the kids as they headed off to school. Four other boys travelled on the back of motor bikes, but Jeffry rode his bicycle.

I had ridden his bike myself a day or two before. It was just before church at the children’s home and I was wearing my preacherly best, but caught up in the playfulness of children, hopped on the bike, riding up the lane, much to the amusement of the kids and arriving churchgoers.

Jeffry loved to call my daughter (Rebekah) bebek which means duck. She would ask for the names of animals to say back, and her attempts left Jeffry and the children rolling with laughter.  

A couple of days later I flew home but that little corner of Bali, down a back lane in Denpasar, is never far from my heart, or my family’s.

There was no candle, no white tiles, no smothering humidity when I got up yesterday morning, heading to make coffee and breakfast.

I noticed a text had arrived on my mobile. I opened it and read: ‘P please pray 4 Novi, motor bike accident young Jeffry died Novi in coma we r at hospital.’ Later we learned a drunk rider had collided with the two children.

My own sadness at this news cannot be compared with my daughter’s who has used almost every available holiday in the past few years to visit these children. We can only imagine the aching grief of those whose lives entwined with Jeffry every day.

It was many years ago when I sat in the room of a small boy as he died of AIDS, contracted from his mother. He had spoken of visions of Jesus coming to his room to speak with him. These memories tell me that Jesus is never outdone by tragedy.

Experiences like that, like this, remind us that every child is beautifully special and that somehow God, in his great love, makes provision even in the darkest hours. Our prayers and our presence are part of that provision, the reason we care, that we go.

One of Jeffry’s  ‘sisters’ at the home wrote, ‘everyone very sad , and also still not believe that Jeffry must go quickly…’

It is true, he has gone far too quickly for us, but he finds himself in a place where time, or tears, will never bother him again. Till we meet again…

MasterChef’s seven sins; God’s endless forgiveness

Peter Hallett6 Comments
Pieter Bruegel the Elder's Gluttony (1558)

Australia’s MasterChef’s contestants were tonight [July 11, 2010] asked to cook dishes in keeping with the ‘seven deadly sins’ of  wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony.Read More »

Even men who think they’re Jesus respond to kindness

Peter HallettLeave a comment

Came across this old song that first appeared on the Strawbs self-titled album in 1969 and was released as a single.

It reminds me of a few people I know and what I like most in the lyrics is the simple invitation of hospitality given to someone who is quite delusional. Kindness matters, even to Jesus.

Not sure about the pint of blood reference – maybe a beer too many. Oh, and the song was banned by the BBC… how times have changed.

The Man Who Called Himself Jesus
Dave Cousins

He came into the shop and looked me straight between the eyes
And said ‘You know I’m Jesus’, and I must have looked surprised
Because he said ‘Please don’t be hasty, no-one understands
But I’ve got a way to prove it’ and he lifted up his hands.

He was the man who called himself Jesus.

Read More »

Mother reminds world of Justin’s Christian origins

Peter HallettLeave a comment

“No 15-year-old wants to be around his mother 24/7. And no mother wants to be around her 15-year-old 24/7, either.”

Sounds like a pretty down to earth comment really and the interesting thing is that it was made by Pattie Mallette, the mother of 16-year-old pop star, Justin Bieber.

Ms Mallette has been in the news this week for reminding the world of her son’s Christian origins. In a discussion about the star’s commitment to remain a virgin until marriage, his mother said, ‘He’s expressed his desire to stay pure, and honour women, and treat women with respect. So hopefully that stays valid.’

Apart from the slightly obscene aspect of the world discussing a 16-year-old’s virginity, it is an intersting insight into ridiculous fame crashing headlong into real people in real family.

Pattie Mallette was just 18 when she became pregnant with Justin, who was born on March 1, 1994, in Stratford, Ontario. She worked low paying office jobs as she raised Justin as a single mother.

While Justin taught himself  to play the piano, guitar and trumpet by the age of 12, Pattie began posting videos of his performances on YouTube with a clear strategy in mind.

It seems that she had a strong Christian faith and at some point, as many parents do, had in a very real way ‘given’ her son over into God’s hands, seeing him as a possible modern day prophet Samuel.Read More »

Gretel, Gillard and ‘god’ in an age of convenient Christianity

Peter HallettLeave a comment

Gretel Killeen is now a columnist for The Sun-Herald and, I believe, we did the same communications degree too long ago to remember. Known to most as the host of Big Brother for many years, she is actually an acclaimed author in various genres and did time as a stand up comic.

She counts her most important achievement as being a single mother to her two children and apparently believes in a small ‘g’ god, whatever that means.

Gretel made a fairly intelligent contribution in Sunday’s column to the commentary on Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s declaration of non-faith:

‘And despite the fact I do believe in a god, I’d like to give praise… to Prime Minister Julia Gillard for declaring her atheism last week. In a hypocritical world, it’s not uncommon for allegedly God-fearing politicians to treat the Ten Commandments as though they were a smorgasbord rather than a set meal, choosing their own custom-made combinations to both impress others and serve themselves. It’s therefore thrilling in this age of convenient Christianity to hear someone tell the truth on an issue that could actually lose them votes.’

If she was seen wearing sackcloth and ash and saying some of those things, especially ‘Ten Commandments as… smorgasbord’ and ‘impress others and serve themselves’ we might easily mistake her for Joan the Baptist.

It is possible (and not mutually exclusive) to respect the honesty of a Prime Minister and the measure of faith of a newspaper columnist while still earnestly praying that they would both encounter the living Jesus. PH

Nature, nurture and the spiritual life

Peter HallettLeave a comment

Nature versus nurture is an ongoing debate in the scientific community but what implications does it have for the spiritual life?

Is our identity, personality and behaviour fixed by our genes or is the raw material of ourselves molded by the environment into which we are born – our family, parenting, experience.

Likewise does a person’s spiritual origin determine what they look like or is it more to do with spiritual environment in which they live?Read More »

Huey still loves Hughesy

Peter HallettLeave a comment

Dave Hughes suggested on the 7pm Project tonight that most church attenders are hypocrites. The irony was he wasn’t angry with Christians, he was actually angry with Steve Price.

Another guest on the show ridiculed Christians for having an ‘imaginary friend’.

A third suggested that the Catholics she offended last week should forgive her, because that’s what Jesus would do.

Hughesy, no doubt there are plenty of hypocrites at church – there called sinners – and the church (and the 7pm Project) are full of them.

As for the ‘imaginary friend’, He has a great imagination – he even imagined (and spoke) us all into being.

And yes Jesus does forgive, and also encourages us to speak the truth in love.

And if you don’t know what this is all about, it’s Jesus on prime time – God is definitely back on the agenda in 21st century Australian.

Australians have long irreverently, but with some appreciation, referred to God as Huey. Send it down Huey! Our love and faith that is… PH

Julia learned Bible verses but formed different views

Peter HallettLeave a comment

Faith in politics is much more on the agenda in Australia than it was a decade ago and so it is no wonder there has been intense interest as to the religious convictions, if any, of new Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Today she was directly questioned about religious faith and the future of the Christian vote in Australia during an interview on ABC Radio.

The Australian newspaper reports that Ms Gillard appeared to be ‘surprised’ when asked whether she believed in God and how she would court the Christian vote.

‘I’m not a religious person,’ Ms Gillard told the ABC, although she was quick to point out she had won a prize for learning Bible verses as a child in the Baptist Church. ‘I’ve, you know, found a different path.’

Read more of what she had to say at Australian Christian Voter.

Stolen people, a more human Kevin and a mysterious Julia

Peter HallettLeave a comment

As Kevin Rudd looked back today on his term as Prime Minister, one of his key memories, related in his speech, was the day when he said sorry to the stolen generations. Facing the assembled media, he looked up beyond them and out across the grounds of Parliament House. He raised his arm and pointed, as if he had a vision no one else could see:

‘They came in through there,’ he said with misty eyes. ‘The thing I remember… is that they were frightened… it was our job to make them welcome.’

Kevin, where has this display of humanity been? In any case, for your sake, I’m glad it’s back.

Meanwhile, the search is on for a definitive statement of Julia Gillard’s religious views. There’s not much out there and I haven’t read her biography. But I did find this from a Compass program in 2005:

Very little has been written about Prime Minister Gillard’s own religions convictions, if any, but she did have this to say on the ABC’s Compass program back in May 2005:

‘I think Labor has to learn how to connect with many of the elements of our new and growing communities. And certainly the evangelical or Pentecostal churches is one of those elements. And I don’t think we should be shy, even for those of us that value the sort of secular tradition that’s grown up within the Labor Party. I don’t think we should be shy of forging connections with those sorts of community groups.’

She was supporting Kevin Rudd’s growing connection to the churches and at least shows a recognition that this is a good thing. PH

Kevin thanks God – him or her

Peter HallettLeave a comment

In making his final speech as Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd took a moment to thank God. In doing so he gave as much insight into his particular brand of theology as in any other forum.

‘It’s probably not the occasion for high statements of theology but I’m sure you would be disappointed if I didn’t say something, given it has been the subject of comment in the years that I’ve led this party.

‘But to the great God and Creator of us all. I thank him; or her as well.’

Prayer without walls but with Walkman

Peter Hallett4 Comments

Mike walked into the prayer meeting, bare-chested, track pants low and blue headphones from his Walkman dangling over his ears.

He sat in various locations, including spread-legged on the floor.  The flow of prayer continued on around him.

While not phased by someone off the street suddenly appearing (relationship is a great leveller), there may have been a subtle shift in the group’s prayer to cover Mike, but not conspicuously.

Mike is a strong, nearly 40 man with partly shaven, partly spiked hair, a keen intelligence and the demeanour of an 11-year-old at a party. He can have an angry streak – I have talked him down from an Ice-induced rage on one occasion – but it was no where in sight this night.

‘Can I borrow your vacuum cleaner to vacuum my flat and then bring it right back,’ he said in a loud whisper to Patrick as the prayers continued. Pat quietly suggested they talk about it later.

He continued to find new seats and at times the music in his headphones was so loud, pray-ers had to lift their volume to compete. A gentle wave from one participant, suggesting he turn it down, was greeted with an obliging thumbs up.

As Mike got more jumpy, not in a disturbing way, but slightly distracting, I decided to invite him out to the kitchen for a cup of tea.

He gladly came. ‘Tea or coffee?’ I asked. ‘Tea,’ he said. ‘I like coffee but you said tea and tea reminds me of my grandmother. Can I have three sugars?’

I started preparing the tea and he asked me my name. When I told him he said, ‘I had an uncle named Peter. He was the shepherd of the family, that’s what my grandmother used to say. He was the only one to keep in touch while I was in gaol.’

‘That’s great, that there was someone like that in the family, who would keep an eye out for you,’ I replied.

‘Yeah it was good, although he did steal all the money I had saved up,’ he said. I was stunned by his gentle correction of my appraisal. ‘Well it sounds like he had a good heart, even if he made a few mistakes,’ I said.

‘Yeah, a good heart, even if it was false,’ he said, with no sign of malice. There was no way he was letting Uncle Peter of the hook even though he seemed well disposed to him.

Just as I was feeling a bit clever that I had successfully diverted Mike from disturbing the prayer team, he grabbed his cup of tea and said, ‘Can I go back out there?’ And before I had time to reply he took off, cup in hand, and I hurried after him with mine, realising I didn’t really want a cup of tea.

Mike sat in various locations again, spilt and then finished his tea and became perhaps a little too animated during some passionate prayer.

Finally, the leader of the meeting wound things up and asked if he could pray for Mike. He readily agreed to the prayer and to a hand being laid gently on his shoulder. The prayer began, with Mike giving a whispered sub-text.

‘Lord, deliver Mike from a spirit of fear and a spirit of rejection,’ Rick prayed with strength.

‘Cook it up!’ encouraged Mike.

‘And we pray against the spirit of violence that  troubles Mike.’

‘And that has disappeared,’ stresses Mike.

‘And Lord, let your love and your peace cover and fill him.’

‘Finally!’ Mike says.

With encouraging Amens, the prayer ends and Mike stands up, gazes around and with a big smile says, ‘That was great, and it was all true, all true. Look, I’m getting my goosebumps back, look at them all on my arms.’

Just another day at the church with no walls… PH

Names changed, true story. Creative non-fiction, Christian style…

Trouble with trust except where it belongs

Peter HallettLeave a comment

Sorry, but I don’t trust the Israelis and I don’t trust the Palestinians. I don’t trust the activists and I don’t trust the media. And that’s just one issue.

I don’t trust the miners and their crying poor, and I don’t trust, but less, the unions and politicians pushing the super tax.

I don’t trust the scientists who advocate climate change and I don’t trust those that deny it and I don’t trust myself to know the truth if I heard it.

I’m struggling to trust all the books claiming new-ancient ways of doing church because the next book always qualifies the first and starts to sound like what we are already doing.

I don’t trust high-profile Christians in the marketplace to always do the right thing because I can’t always do the right thing and I probably face less pressure than they do.

I often don’t trust journalism (sorry my friends) today because opinion has taken over and whose opinion is it anyway.

I do trust Tony Abbott when he tells us that some of the time he can’t be trusted but I’m not sure if that leaves me ahead or behind.

I don’t trust the next great big thing that’s going to change the world, even those with a Christian veneer, because humans have always had the next big thing and the first was called Babel.

It’s no surprise or tragedy that trust is so often unwarranted. We are all so easily swayed by our own gain whether it be for wealth, warmth or welcome.

Strangely, I do trust a God who I have never seen or heard, who leads me beside stormy waters and quieteth not my soul. Because just when I think I’ve had it, the storm abates, the peace comes and I see and hear him in some way deeper than my senses.

I trust Jesus, and even as I write these words, I feel his goodness pervading in a way that warms my soul and encourages me to love this world anyway.

I trust my wife, the truest heart I’ve ever met, and I trust my love for her and our children, and them for us, trust to die by. And when I think about it there are many family and friends I trust deeply.

Perhaps I’m more trusting that I realise. Knowing helps trusting but knowing is more elusive than ever.

As for the big, wide world out there, it’s not that I’m untrusting, but I’m learning that we don’t need to trust to love and have faith. They are a sacrifice of a different kind… PH

Shroud evidence delights believers and sceptics in turn

Peter HallettLeave a comment
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. 

Read More »

Flourishing grace blooms despite grey skies

Peter Hallett2 Comments

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