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I have been re reading the story of the Good Samaritan recently and have been refreshed in my thinking about the scope of justice! It’s mandate, magnitude, motivation and method. I found this quote the other day by Martin Luther King Jr. and instantly loved it. Transforming the Jericho road is both the essence of Christian justice and the end point of Christian justice.
“A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”
-Martin Luther King Jr.
On a very casual side note, it reminds me of a joke about social workers:
Two social workers are walking through a dodgy side of town when they see a man lieing on the ground, wounds all over covered in his own blood. The first social worker says: “that man has been mugged!” The second social worker replies: “yes, someone needs to find the people who did this and help them”
So this is my brother in law Ryan.
He runs marathons, loves the Tour de France, is colour blind and teaches Christian studies at Scots.
He has just started a blog called: “A light on a Hill“
He plans to blog about:
- tips for teaching and engaging boys
- using film creatively
- reviewing current resources for high schoolers
- general reflections on schools ministry
- building a senior Christian Studies program from scratch
- and other bits and pieces that come up in my life
He has already started posting about mental health and Slum dog Millionaire.
You can check it out here
You may also recognise the cool looking woman in the photo. That is Fiona, my sister, I have interviewed her before here at MSO. You can read that here
There is a girl at my work who recently put up a massive poster of man, surrounded by jungle and snakes, trying to get free.
Bear Grylls
It had below it: “Man Vs Wild. Bear Loves it when Mother Nature Plays Rough“
I was a it weirded out by it not having ever heard of Bear Grylls or Man Vs Wild. My friend was a bit shocked and proceeded to inform me that it was an awesome show and that I should watch it.
Well I am often easily persuaded by enthusiasm (I recently had a filet o fish on someone’s recommendation – though I don’t believe it was as good as it was talked up to be). Man Vs Wild however not only lived up to my expectation, it exceeded it.
The shw is basically this:
Bear Grylls, an ex British SAS soldier and adventurer gets dropped into the middle of nowhere with the clothes on his back. He usually has a water bottle with him and will sometimes have a knife and a flint. That is pretty much it. He then has to find his way to civilisation while a camera crew follows him so that we at home can learn what to do if we ever get lost in the wild. This means that Bear is often jumping into frozen lakes or quicksand to show us what to do if we are ever in that situation.
Bear will eat raw fish, maggots and really whatever he can find. He will use his own urine in a whole range of clever ways to stay alive. He will make rafts and shelters and bridges with whatever is around him.
He has been in the American Rockies, French Alps, Ecuadorian Rain forrests, Hawaiian active volcanoes, Northern Sweden in the arctic circle and the Moab dessert. He has even once taken Will Ferrel with him on his trip, that was Men vs Wild.
The show is not only highly entertaining, it is also very educational!
Yes, before you say it, there is a camera crew following him, but they are only allowed to intervene if he is facing imminent death! But without the camera crew the show would be pretty boring…
Anyway here are some cool clips to wet your appetite!
I highly recommend this show, even Liz loved it and Liz things the outdoors and camping etc is for idiots.
“It is time for evangelicals to refuse to use sentences that begin with “the primary task of the church is…” regardless of whether the sentence ends with evangelism or bible teaching or social action, they are all integral, necessary aspects of the church’s task “
-Ron Sider in Christianity Today circa 1974
I came accross this quote the other day while doing some reading for an upcoming sermon. I love it. I have to admit that I always fall into this way of thinking, needing to order and prioritise things. I wonder what your thoughts are? The primary task of the church has always been a battleground – especially so in Sydney.
In other news Ron Sider is coming to speak at TEAR Australia’a National conference. Check it out here. I have been to the last two and found them excellent! I have really grown in my understanding of how to read the bible outside of a single time/space context. One of the main reasons I love this conference is that they aim to learn from how other cultures (especially global south cultures) read and apply the bible. I find this especially fascinating as these cultures are often so similar to the culture that Jesus, Paul, Moses and the prophets lived, lead and taught in. Whereas the culture that I live in is starkly different to the culture of the bible.
Anyway, Ron Sider is coming to be a keynote speaker – I have read several of his books including: Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger and Good News, Good Works and The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience.
and a funny/clever video that Monster showed me…
