I’ve just returned from a high school debate with my daughter in which the topic was “That MySpace is a waste of space”.
Pros from the Teenage Users
1. An effective way of learning first hand from people from around the world.
2. A means of self expression
3. A way for people to become famous - self promotion for bands, designers, artists
4. A cheap way to set up online conversation
Cons from the Teenage Users
1. What should be private quickly and easily becoming public (e.g. parties)
2. Bullying finding a new insidious channel
3. Identity fraud - misrepresenatation or identity theft
4. Addiction leading to distortion of priorities, distracting from education, exercise and face-to-face communication
And More
The students didn’t cover the banality of MySpace conversation, bad design, the domination of the media by self promotion and commercial interest, and the trivialisation of friendship. There was no comparisons of MySpace with Facebook, Bebo or other social networking sites.
I found it ironic that 13 year olds are debating an internet phenomenon that, in theory, they have had no experience of. The minimum age for starting a MySpace page is 14. And yet it would seem, from talking to the students there, that many teenagers have had their own site well before their 14th birthday, just by lying about their age. By the time they reach the age of 14 they’re bored and have moved on. Or their parents have discovered their site…
David Mitchell, Robert Webb and Olivia Colman star in the “Bad Vicar” sketch from the BBC show, That Mitchell and Webb Look. The skit is part of an ongoing series in which Mitchell plays the dark and cynical man who has replaced the friendly woman in the restaurant, the church…
See more of their skits online at BBC and on YouTube.
John Evans, a fellow Uniting Church minister, based at Church of All Nations in Carlton, Melbourne, has hit the news with his suggestion that Australia rethinks Good Friday.
John’s arguing that in a more multicultural, multifaith society, designating the Christian festival of Good Friday as a public holiday is becoming less and less appropriate. Outside the Christian community there is little religious significance for most Australians. “Whether Good Friday is a public holiday or not will not change or challenge the day’s significance. In fact, in the place of Good Friday, there should be a national holiday to mark our endeavours towards Aboriginal reconciliation”, John is quoted as saying.
How to respond?
I’ve heard people saying that the arrival of people with different religious beliefs shouldn’t lead to the abandonment of Christian practices and observances. But, of course, it’s too late for that. The arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus just doesn’t figure for most people. And aligning lives with the life of Jesus less so.
Many Christians, Protestant and Catholic, gather for Good Friday services in which they reflect on the suffering of the Christ. People from the Orthodox wing of Christianity, however, are usually observing Easter at some other time, this year on April 25 to 27. Fortunately for these people in Australia and New Zealand Good Friday for them will coincide with ANZAC Day this year.
Without Good Friday as a public holiday people would go to work as usual. Those who wished to take part in religious observances would have the choice of gathering before work, at lunch time, after work. Or taking the afternoon off to attend a service at 3 pm. Not a big deal. Easter camps for young people would be shorter however, starting on Friday nights.
Elsewhere in the world
Good Friday is a public holiday in Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Peru, the countries of the Caribbean, Germany, Malta, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Ireland observes the day as bank holiday and bans the sale of alcohol. Indonesia and Malaysia, majority Muslim countries, observe the day as a national holiday.
John Evans points out that Good Friday is not a national holiday in the United States. The day is given as a holiday in some states, including Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, Tennessee. Some schools and universities observe the day as a Spring holiday.
Bottom Line
Easter, although associated with a Christian tradition, is a key part of the Australian culture. Most Australians, regardless of beliefs or ethnic backgrounds, enjoy having an extra long weekend, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday observed on Monday. People get to travel, see family and just have a relaxing time. Judging by the number of people at the bottle store on Thursday, it’s also a traditional time for communal consumption of food and alcohol. The long weekend is a chance for the practice of ’sabbath’ - recognising that we need to stop our obsession with making and spending money.
Now the discussion of a day of reconciliation is another question, worthy of a discussion in itself.
Tony Jones has published “The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier”, an insider set of observations on the Emergent movement in the USA. (Jossey Bass)
Tony is the national coordinator of Emergent Village and is working on a doctorate in practical theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. He’s known for his earlier books, Postmodern Youth Ministry and The Sacred Way: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Life.
Leaving the Old Country
I found the first chapter a bit hard going, to tell the truth. Tony sets out to explain why there’s a need for an alternative to the mainline denominations (Episcopalian, United Methodist, United Church of Christ and Presbyterian), and Evangelical protestantism (the loosely aligned born again Christians who tend towards literal interpretation of the Bible, emphasise personal conversion to Christ). No mention of Catholics here. Maybe the USA is more polarised than here downunder but my experience of the Uniting Church in Australia and Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand is that the tension between left and right is found within those denominations. In smaller countries there’s more likelihood that people will have attended conferences together, perhaps trained together at Bible College, or served together in an interdenominational organisation such as Scripture Union.
I appreciate Tony’s first two ‘dispatches’ from the Emergent Frontier:
Dispatch 1: Emergents find little importance in the discrete differences between the various flavors of Christianity. Instead, they practice a generous orthodoxy that appreciates the contributions of all Christian movements.
Dispatch 2: Emergents reject the politics and theologies of left versus right. Seeing both sides as a remnant of modernity, they look forward to a more complex reality.
I’m reminded of the behaviour of my third child as a toddler. The older two had the seating arranged for television. Kristen found that she had to push them to the left and to the right to get a seat in the middle.
The reality is that our formative heritage biases us, despite our discomfort with blanket generalisation. And so the “liberals” throughout the book are described by Tony (who comes from a Congregational background) as people who are all required to conform to a politically correct orthodoxy combined with conservative traditional liturgical worship. Although I’m living a long way away, I don’t believe that the mainline churches can be summarised through the writings of authors such as Marcus Borg or Stanley Hauerwas.
I did enjoy the inclusion of the Jon Stewart episode on CNN’s Crossfire show - which I’ve written up on my Propaganda blog.
After Objectivity: Beautiful Truth
One of the common critiques of the Emerging Church movement is the perception that these postmodernists have rejected the concept of truth. Tony responds by saying that Emergents embrace the whole Bible, the glory and the pathos. Emergents believe that truth, like God, cannot be definitively articulated by finite human beings. Emergents embrace paradox, especially those that are core components of the Christian story.
I enjoyed Tony’s personal reflections on the art of umpiring baseball and the difficulty of ‘calling’ and ‘naming’ what is true. I appreciated his consideration of the story of Jepthah’s sacrifice of his daughter. It’s a messy situation that calls us to consider our responsibility for our actions and God’s presence in great suffering. I like what Tony has to say about the way in which Christians qualify the word ‘truth’ with ‘absolute’ and other such adjectives. What Tony’s saying here resounds with my experience of attending a range of congregations in which the
Inside the Emergent Church
There are some great stories told here, with honesty. We’re taken behind the scenes at Jacob’s Well in Kansas City, Missouri, Journey in Dallas, Texas, Church of the Apostles in Seattle, Washington, and Solomon’s Porch in South Minneapolis.
Tony introduces us to the diversity found in these groups, the openness to newcomers, the commitment to dialogue, experimentation, and also the vulnerability found in small start up groups. Will they last? Does it matter? Will these groups get past the tentative dialogue stages and harden into something more definable such as Mars Hill Church (with Mark Driscoll) in Seattle?
Wikichurch
This is a brilliant analogy for the way any movement forms. Tony talks about the Emergent belief that church should function more like an open-source network and less like a heirarchy or bureacracy. He writes about attempts to move out of the clergy-dominated meeting structures found in most churches and develop an ‘Open Access’ approach to dialogue.
Tony points to the way Wikipedia trusts the collective editorial community to weed out abberations or rogue entries. In the same way he beloieves that the collected people of God, in community with the Spirit, will stay on track and engage with God’s work in the world. Two painful test cases are the issues of homosexuality and women in ministry. Already Mark Driscoll has parted ways with the Emergent crowd, now that it is clear that the Emergent crowd disagree with his hardline approaches.
Tony writes about the need for sustainability in response to criticism that the Emergent churches are not growing fast enough or making enough disciples. He suggests that the messiness of new startup groups can be a good alternative to highly ‘efficient’ congregations in which people burn out or are dominated by egomaniac pastors. Fear of failure is what stops movements like this starting or progressing.
Tony’s epilogue suggests that Emergent Christians are a bit like the feral camels in Australia, once domesticated, but now out in the wilderness pushing over fences, occasionally returning to bother the establishment.
Thumbs up Tony!
If you’d like to discuss the book further join the Facebook Group, administered by Sue McMahon-Jones and Doug Pagitt.
Why Blog? Is blogging a toy or a tool? Bailey strongly recommends that churches only invest their leaders’ time in blogging if it is genuinely going to be useful. He suggests that blogging can be used for sharing news, casting vision, reaching out to the community, connecting staff with one another, volunteers and church members, learning from others, spreading the Word.
The book includes practical chapters on getting started, building a better blog, pitfalls to avoid, using RSS feeds, and podcasting.
I’d recommend this book highly to any church leaders considering launching a blog or improving the effectiveness of their online work. The tip I picked up and intend to use is including a disclaimer “these opinions are those of Duncan Macleod and not his employer”.
There are 25 posts to check out here. Your challenge is to take a look through them all, leaving friendly and helpful comments. Would you like to join this happy team of contributors? Read my earlier post on the ins and outs of the Carnival of Australia. The next edition will be in two weeks time,
Noric Dilanchian presents Australia’s first 11 in performance and valuation - Dilanchian Lawyers posted at Lightbulb, saying, “The vast majority of books on business success are either humdrum, American or fail to recognise that in many respects Australia is different. In this respect one standout, now in its second edition, is The First XI: Winning Organisations in Australia (John Wiley & Sons Australia, Sydney, 2007). However, its chapter titled “Comparing our findings with other studies” provides reasons why it is a good thing that the book’s discoveries are not startling.”
Megan Bayliss presents What we do at Imaginif posted at Imaginif…, saying, “Attending a professional network recently I was faced with how out of touch I have become with a non computer based audience. Several colleagues mused around not knowing what it is I do anymore because I do a lot of that weird computer stuff. Point taken. But conversely, do you know what the talk doctors of Imaginif do off line? This is who we are and what we do in the office of Imaginif:”
Suzie Cheel presents Random Acts Of Kindness posted at The Abundance Highway, saying, “Last Sunday was Clean up Australia Day, so one might expect that there would be less litter around. I have continued on with my randon act of kindness each day we go to the beach. Mondays we usally go with a plastic bag as there is always more cans, paper cups, and often half full water bottles on the beach.”
Family
Carole Fogarty presents The Emotional Cost of Clutter: posted at THE HEALTHY LIVING LOUNGE, saying, “We all have an emotional attachment to our stuff. Sometimes healthy and sometimes very unhealthy. The trick is to take an honest look at everything t”
Two from Craig - as his first submission just missed the last deadline.
Craig Harper presents Just Another Life. posted at Renovate your life with Craig, saying, “Have you ever thought about your funeral? I have. Mine that is, not yours. Sometimes I wonder what it will be like. Who will be there, what they will say. Good stuff or bad? Will it be a sad or happy occasion? Will there be three people or three thousand? Or fifty perhaps? It’s certainly not something that I dwell on (that would be creepy), but from time to time (usually when I’m at a funeral myself) I let my mind wander and consider what that day might be like.”
Duncan Macleod presents One thing leads to another at Borders posted at Duncan’s Print, saying, “Borders Asia Pacific is helping customers make the connections between genres with a print advertising campaign, “One Thing Leads to Another”. Asia is connected with design and sculpture in an impressive hairdo. Travel is connected with D.I.Y. on the back of a motorbike. Automotive is connected with House and Home and Baby Names in the back of a Volkswagen Kombi.”
Duncan Macleod presents Schweppervescence Burst in Slow Motion posted at Duncan’s TV Ad Land, saying, “Schweppes has launched a campaign in Australia bringing new life to the branding concept of Schweppervescence. The ‘Burst’ campaign consists of five videos using slow motion cameras at 10,000 frames per second to capture the final moments in the trajectories of water balloons.”
Travel
poetloverrebelspy presents The Art of Being a Gracious Houseguest posted at Less Than a Shoestring, saying, “Travel on a Shoestring Carnivals highlight budget travel tips and destinations around the U.S. and the world. We would love to feature your posts on Oz hotels, restaurants, museums, churches, hikes, daytrips, parks, whatever! Submit by the third Wednesday of each month.”
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That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Carnival of Australia using our carnival submission form.
Straightfrommybrain.com, the brainchild of Stephen Wildish, has produced a hilarious take on Facebook for archetypal seniors. I wonder if this is what is in store for the present generation of Facebook addicts…
Applications
Photos from the War
Knitting Groups
Events and Funerals
Stanna Stairlift
Colostomy Bag
News Feed
George Summner is attending Edgar Jones’ funeral.
Gordon Norris joined the group I like to stop suddenly in the street.
3 of your friends just got poked with a walking stick. Poke back?
Edgar Jones has died… would you like to attend the funeral?
Victor Grantham has added the pipe and slippers application.
Constance Edwards joined the group I still pay my bills with cheques and old money.
Edgar Jones is not feeling too perky today. Faith Ogden wrote a note on that nice young man from the shop’s wall:
“Ooh thankyou dearie for popping over my tripe and porridge oats. I don’t know what I’d do without you, you see my children never call anymore and I’m practically a hermit.”
Charles Sunnington added the meals on wheel application.
Al Bridges and Cliff Richards are now friends.
Status Updates
Vera is complaining about modern music. Where’s the melody?
Stanley Goodwin is trying to keep warm this winter.
Edna Williams is annoyed about immigration.
Ted Stapleton is excited about his new cardigan.
Upcoming Events
Sitting at home watching Corrie with a cup of Earl Grey Tea.
Every two weeks Australian bloggers collaborate to create “Carnival of Australia“, a selection of posts on a variety of topics. This coming week’s carnival will be posted here at Pacific Highlander. I’ve already received a good number of entries but, as they say, the more the merrier.
Carnival of Australia is a place to celebrate the diversity of thought and opinion of Aussie bloggers and bloggers who blog on Australia. All topics are welcome from Aussies living here or overseas and from visitors to our diverse country. NO adult content, or abusive and racist comments. One submission per site please. If you keep two or three sites, you can submit one article from each.
Submission categories are Culture, Food, Politics, History, Outback, Environment, Family, Indigenous issues, Slanguage, Travel, Technology, Business, Music, Helping a mate, Mates, Animals, Literature, Sport, Current Affairs, and Walkabout.
Deadline for entries is Monday (March 10) at 11 pm Australian Eastern Standard Time. Submit your post/s here.
Colin Scott, an ordained Baptist Minister in Sydney, is developing a network of Christian ministers to apologise to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community for the way they have been treated by the Christian churches in Australia. Representatives of 100Revs joined in the Mardi Gras march in Sydney over the weekend.
Regardless of any position on Biblical teaching or policy on leadership, we need to acknowledge the impact of exclusion on people who don’t fit the ‘normal’ framework expected by congregations and their leaders. I’ve found some inspiration in the work done by the United Church of Christ in the United States (to which Barack Obama belongs), in their Still Speaking and Rejected by Religion campaigns.
The Apology
As ministers of various churches and denominations we recognise that the churches we belong to, and the church in general, have not been places of welcome for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people. Indeed the church has often been profoundly unloving toward the GLBT community. For these things we apologise, whatever the distinctive of our Christian position on human sexuality – to which we remain committed. We are deeply sorry and ask for the forgiveness of the GLBT community. We long that the church would be a place of welcome for all people and commit ourselves to pursuing this goal.
We ARE a group of Christian ministers who voluntarily and individually bring this apology.
We ARE NOT official representatives of our churches or denominations.
We ARE recognising the lack of hospitality, care and welcome that the churches have offered the gay and lesbian community.
We ARE NOT making a statement on the biblical position on gay and lesbian relationships.
Colin is a chaplain at University of Sydney, and director of HOPESTREET, a ministry of the Baptist Churches of NSW & ACT working amongst the most marginalised groups in the inner city of Sydney, including sex workers, the homeless, public housing tenants, Aboriginal people, problem gamblers and the unemployed.
Gloria Dean Randle Scott is credited with saying, “The critical responsibility for the generation you’re in is to help provide the shoulders, the direction, and the support for those generations who come behind.”
Gloria has certainly lived that out in her life. Born 70 years ago in Texas, she was the first African American woman to graduate with a degree in zoology from Indiana University. She was the first African-American to head the Girl Scouts of the USA (1975-1978). She was the president of Bennett College, a Historically Black College for women, in Greensboro, North Carolina, from 1987-2001.
Duncan Macleod posts on life, faith and culture in Australia, drawing from his involvement in the creative industry, the Uniting Church, the blogosphere, generational research, the emerging church and life on the Gold Coast.
Tony is the national coordinator of 
Why Blog? Is blogging a toy or a tool? Bailey strongly recommends that churches only invest their leaders’ time in blogging if it is genuinely going to be useful. He suggests that blogging can be used for sharing news, casting vision, reaching out to the community, connecting staff with one another, volunteers and church members, learning from others, spreading the Word.
Faith Ogden wrote a note on that nice young man from the shop’s wall:
