What a difference a month can make

For my day job, I work as the building and bookings administrator for my local church.

Four Sundays ago, about 160 members of our church met together as usual in our building on the main road of our town for worship and kids groups followed by a chat over a cup of tea. I visited the church every day, both to give access to the various community groups that use the building and to work in the office.

Three Sundays ago, we had a big squirty box of hand-sanitiser on the door, a couple of members who'd just come back from trips to Asia stayed at home, but it was more or less business as usual. A couple of my co-workers attended our weekly staff meeting by Skype, but I was still around and letting people in and out of the building. Most of the people I talked too couldn't find toilet paper anywhere, but were just trying to get on with life as usual.

Two Sundays ago, we asked people who had someone unwell in their house, who were in a vulnerable group or who didn't feel comfortable coming to church to stay at home. We had about 70 people there and struggled to get enough adults to care for the various kids groups during the service, shared communion handed out by tongs, and tea and coffee after the service was carefully doled out by someone in kitchen gloves. We cancelled all large gatherings in the building, but some community services judged essential continued, perhaps not as usual, but at least they happened.

Last Sunday, the church building was closed on a Sunday morning, and people gathered around laptop screens around the city at 10:30am to watch a service that had been prerecorded by the musicians and speakers in the church building over the course of the week. At tea and coffee time we met together in small groups via Zoom or by phone from our respective lounge rooms. The building closed entirely, and I set up the table downstairs as my office desk, even though it's not exactly clear what my job is these days when we the building doesn't really need a lot of administering.

This Sunday, the YouTube service was spliced together out of bits and pieces recorded in different members homes. Some members contributed songs, others prayers, others preached or led communion made of whatever bread and liquids members had in their houses (our consisted of pepper crackers and apple cider). It has been a rollercoaster of change, but I've been greatly encouraged by how well people have been adapting to some significant changes, especially by how well some of the elderly and more technologically challenged have leapt right in. It might no look that much like church looked just a month ago, but it still looks a lot like church, and in a time of upheaval and uncertainty, that's a pretty big deal.

Let's wait and see what the next month throws at us.

Blaugust 23/31: Can was a worker of the ground

It's day 23 of Blaugust! The home straight is in sight!

 

The game we play on Sunday is the sharing of the on-going epic work that is The Up Goer God Book. We rejoin the story with "The Book of the Beginning of the World, Part 4".

 

1 And "A damn" knew "Even" his wife; and she made a baby, and carried "Can", and said, I have gotten a man from the god.
2 And she again carried his brother "Able". And "Able" was a man who looked after clothes animals, but "Can" was a worker of the ground.
3 And in way of time it came to pass, that the ground worker brought of the food of the ground an offering to the god.
4 And the animal worker, he also brought of the first young of his animal group and of the burning body parts there of. And the god had a liking to the animal worker and to his offering:
5 But to the ground worker and to his offering he had no liking. And the ground worker was very angry, and his face fell.
6 And the god said to the ground worker, Why art you angry? and why is your face fallen?
7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? and if you do not well, bad lies at the door. And to you will be his wants, and you will be in control over him.
8 And the ground worker talked with the animal worker his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that the ground worker rose up against the animal worker his brother, and killed him.
9 And the god said to the ground worker, Where is the animal worker your brother? And he said, I know not: Am I the man who looks after my brother?
10 And he said, What hast you done? the voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the ground.
11 And now art you damned from the world, which hath opened her mouth to take your brother's blood from your hand;
12 When you work the ground, it will not here forward give to your her power; a run away and a man with no home will you be in the world.
13 And the man with no home said to the god, My trouble is greater than I can deal with.

14 Check it out, you hast driven me out this day from the face of the world; and from your face will I be hid; and I will be a run away and a man with no home in the world; and it will come to pass, that every one that finds me will kill me.
15 And the god said to him, For this reason who so ever kills the man with no home , pay back will be taken on him seven times. And the god set a mark upon the man with no home , in case any finding him should kill him.
16 And the man with no home went out from the body space of the god, and lived in the land of "Nod", on the right of "Eat an".
17 And the man with no home knew his wife; and she made a baby, and carried "He knock": and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, "He knock".
18 And to "He knock" was made "Eye red": and "Eye red" had "Me who girl": and "Me who girl" had "Me truth a hell": and "Me truth a hell" had "Lie met".
19 And "Lie met" took to him two wives: the name of the one was "A dear", and the name of the other "See ah".
20 And "A dear" carried "Job ball": he was the father of such as live in clothes card houses, and of such as have food animals.
21 And his brother's name was "Just ball": he was the father of all such as handle the music thing with soft sticks you rub and the music thing that you hit the key and it puts sound in the big empty sticks.
22 And "See ah", she also carried "Two ball can", a person who told other people how to make things out of hard water you burn out of rocks which are either blonde and made by missing red and a little bit of grey rock water, or a more used grey rock water: and the sister of "Two ball can" was "Now mum".
23 And the man with two wives said to his wives, the mother of the music people and the mother of the hard rock water people, Hear my voice; you wives of the man with two wives, listen to my words: for I have killed a man to my cutting, and a young man to my hurt.
24 If the man with no home will be payed back seven times, the man with no home for sure seven tens and seven times.
25 And the man who lost a side stick knew his wife again; and she carried a son, and called his name "Set": For God, said she, hath sorted out another child for me instead of the animal worker, who the man with no home killed.
26 And the third son, to him also there was made a son; and he called his name "He nos": then began men to call upon the name of the god.

This has always been a troubling passage for me, since it seems monumentally unfair for the God god to prefer one type of offering to another given that he hadn't given the poor guys any guidance. That they'd offered anything at all seems pretty good to me, but somehow Can's offering is just poorer than Able's and he gets a pretty raw deal out of the whole thing. As someone who generally gives lesser presents than others because I'm just not good at presents, lot because I have any less love for the person being celebrated, I empathise with Can. Not that I'm going to go kill my brother over it just yet, though, that seems like maybe taking the issue a little far. Besides, he could probably take me.

Anyways, I like what been done just the names here. I hope that you do too, dear reader, as there's lots more where that came from given that Chapter 5 is a genealogy. 

Spoilers: There are Pokemon in the bible now.

Blaugust 16/31: The Tree Place is Guarded by Flying Babies

This is part 16/31 for Blaugust 2015. Wooah, we're halfway there!

The on-going drama of the Up Goer God Book goes on today, with part 3. I don't think that it requires any further introduction except to say once more that I didn't write it, either the original or this unique translation. Blame Dan.

 1 Now the no-legged animal was more cool minded than any angry animal of the field which the god God had made. And he said to the woman, Yes, hath God said, You will not eat of every tree of the tree place?
 2 And the woman said to the no-legged animal, We may eat of the food of the trees of the tree place:
 3 But of the food of the tree which is in the middle of the tree place, God hath said, You will not eat of it, and you will not touch it, or else you will die.
 4 And the no-legged animal said to the woman, You will not die for sure:
 5 For God doth know that in the day you eat there of, then your eyes will be opened, and you will be as gods, knowing good and bad.
 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pretty to the eyes, and a tree to be wanted to make one big-brained, she took of the food there of, and did eat, and gave also to her man with her; and he did eat.
 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were not wearing clothes; and they joined the leaves of the food tree that has white water in its leaves together, and made themselves front clothes.
 8 And they heard the voice of the god God walking in the tree place in the cool of the day: and the man and his wife hid themselves from the body space of the god God between the trees of the tree place.
 9 And the god God called to the man, and said to him, Where art you?
 10 And he said, I heard your voice in the tree place, and I was afraid, because I was not wearing clothes; and I hid myself.
 11 And He said, Who told you that you wast not wearing clothes? Hast you eaten of the tree, where of I told you that you should not eat?
 12 And the man said, The woman who you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
 13 And the god God said to the woman, What is this that you hast done? And the woman said, The no-legged animal made my brain wrong, and I did eat.
 14 And the god God said to the no-legged animal, Because you hast done this, you art damned above all foot animals, and above every angry animal of the field; upon your body will you go, and ground will you eat all the days of your life:

 15 And I will put anger between you and the woman, and between your children and her children; it will hurt your head, and you will hurt his foot.
 16 To the woman He said, I will make you more sad and your getting full of babies; in pain you will bring forward children; and your wants will be to your man, and he will be in control of you.
 17 And to the man He said, Because you hast listened to the voice of your wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I told you, saying, You will not eat of it: damned is the ground which is your fault; in pain will you eat of it all the days of your life;
 18 Sticks with points also and leaves that bring pain will it bring forward to you; and you will eat the tree things you can eat of the field;
 19 In the skin water of your face will you eat rocks made of the spots from small field trees, until you return to the ground; for out of it wast you taken: for ground you art, and to ground will you return.
 20 And the man called his wife's name something like "Even"; because she was the mother of all living.
 21 To the man also and to his wife did the god God make clothes of skins, and put clothes on them.
 22 And the god God said, check it out, the man is become as one of us, to know good and bad: and now, in case he put forward his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
 23 For this reason the god God sent him out from the tree place, to fix the ground from where he was taken.
 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed at the right of the tree place flying babies, and a burning fighting stick which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

That silly snake is always getting himself in trouble, isn't he? Now he's got flying babies and burning fight sticks to worry about, so I wonder if all that tempting was worth it? The old-testament vengeful god sounds like even more of a jerk when you only give him a few words to work with, huh?

In response to last week's comment, I feel it's worth mentioning that I already have a cactus. His name is Albert, and he is the only non-weed that has ever flourished in our garden. There are no green-thumbs amongst the inhabitants of Parliament House, but Albert doesn't seem to mind. They're very non-judgemental plants, cacti.

Blagust 9/31: And they were both not covered

This blog is part 9 of a theorised 31 that represent my attempts at partaking in Blaugust 2015. This week, we continue with Part 2 of The Beginning of the World, the first part of that epic work, the Up Goer God Book, as interpreted by our good friend PsephologyKid. If you missed out on part one, it is here. Without further ado, let's get on with it.

2

 1 In this way the place where God lives and the world were finished, and all the things in them.  

2 And on day seven God ended his work which He had made; and He rested on day seven from all his work which he had made.  

3 And God wished day seven well, and made it important: because that in it He had rested from all his work which God built and made.  

4 These are the children of the place where God lives and of the world when they were made, in the day that the god God made the world and the place where He lives,  

5 And every tree thing of the field before it was in the land, and every tree thing you can eat of the field before it grew: for the god God had not caused it to rain upon the land, and there was not a man to work the ground.  

6 But there went up a water smoke from the land, and watered the whole face of the ground.  

7 And the god God formed man of the spots of the ground, and breathed into his nose spaces the breath of life; and man became a living mind.  

8 And the god God put a tree place in the direction to the right of a picture of places in a place that sounds like saying "Eat an" with a blocked nose; and there He put the man that He had formed.  

9 And out of the ground made the god God to grow every tree that is nice to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the middle of the tree place, and the tree of knowing of good and bad.  

10 And a water way went out of "Eat an" to water the tree place; and from there it was parted, and became into four heads.  

11 The name of the first is "Piece on": that is it which surrounds the whole land of "Heavy laugh", where there is money rock;  

12 And the money rock of that land is good: there is tree blood you can see with your nose and the rock with straight lines.  

13 And the name of the second water way is "Give on": the same is it that surrounds the whole land of "Easy oh pay a".  

14 And the name of the third water way is "Hide kill": that is it which heads toward the right of "Ass ear ear". And water way four is "You free teeth".  

15 And the god God took the man, and put him into the tree place of "Eat an" to dress it and to keep it.  

16 And the god God told the man what to do, saying, Of every tree of the tree place you may eat for free:  

17 But of the tree of the knowing of good and bad, you will not eat of it: for in the day that you eat there of you are sure to die.  

18 And the god God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.  

19 And out of the ground the god God formed every angry animal of the field, and every flying animal of the air; and brought them to the man to see what he would call them: and what so ever the man called every living animal, that was the name there of.  

20 And the man gave names to all food animals, and to the flying animals of the air, and to every angry animal of the field; but for the man there was not found an help meet for him.

 

 21 And the god God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man , and he slept: and he took one of his side sticks, and closed up the soft body instead there of;  

22 And the side stick, which the god God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her to the man.  

23 And the man said, This is now stick of my sticks, and soft body of my soft body: she will be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.  

24 For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother, and will stick to his wife: and they will be one body.  

25 And they were both not covered, the man and his wife, and did not blush.

And there you have it, part 2 of the Up-Goer God Book. I love the strangely satisfying thing that is this little project, but I notice that it seems to be getting a lot fewer hits and no comments when compared to the other stuff that I've been doing so far this Blaugust. Do you guys not find it as hilarious as I do, or feel that it's just so amazing that your comments could add to it, or just not go in for blog-commenting on the Sabbath...or is there something else going on here? I'd love to know, because Dan keeps pumping these things out, and if you don't want to read them it would be good to know, you could even suggest an alternative, so that I can find some other way to torture you on Sunday mornings.

It feels pretty weird, not having to work very hard to produce a post because I know that the PsephologyKid has done all the hard yards, so I've been spending my usual writing time working on a little something for later on... (yes, yes it is rapping, how did you know?). It feels also weird to be a week into Blaugust and still have at least ideas for the next few days, but it's the kind of weird that I can get used to.

If you're struggling for ideas, here's a couple of little prompts:

1) Have you ever done something that you're really proud of but other people hate? Or worse, don't notice or care about?

2) If you could fill your Blaugust with someone else's content (real or imagined) instead of your one, whose would you pick?

3) Have you ever started something big and never finished? Will you ever go back to it?

I still need a cool phrase to sign off my posts with. Ta-ta for now, Owl.

Blaugust 2/31: The Book of the Beginning of the World

This post represents my second of a proposed 31 posts for Blaugust. It's never too late to start.

So...hey! Did you see this thing when it happened to the internet?

Randall Munroe is responsible for a lot of things, through belated stumbling across the idea of geohashing, yours truly met some great people, almost died in the Australian wilderness, started blogging, and first stumbled upon that perpetual stumbling block that is Puzzle Hunts. So, when another xkcd idea went a little silly on the internet, the gang belatedly jumped on board, spending far too many hours recreating one of our favourite recipes:

How to make a dead body blonde card dinner like my mother does

Food bits: 

Ground dead body as heavy as half half half half half half half one boxed foot of water (Five hundred tiny bits)

Two cups of red food ball, beaten hard

One white food ball that makes you cry, cut small 

Half of one cup of tiny green food balls, very cold 

One box of dry blonde card food 

Hard old white breakfast water as heavy as half half half half half half half half one boxed foot of normal water (two and a half hundred tiny bits), cut up tiny 

Directions: 

To make dressing, brown the ground dead body in a big round kitchen cup 

Add beaten red food balls, the white ball that made you cry and the tiny green food balls and controlled burn them a little, for a half half half half half half half day (about ten minutes) 

.In the bottom of a food case that is safe to put in the kitchen hot box, put down some dressing. 

Cover with some hard old white breakfast water. 

Then add some dry blonde card food.  

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat until there is no food left. Make sure to end with the hard old white breakfast water. 

Burn in the kitchen fire box for three half half half half half half half days (about three lots of ten minutes) at half half half half as hot as the skin of the sun (two hundred less twenty of the hot bits we use down under). 

Cut in pieces, eat and enjoy! 

(We have learned that the hot box is more close to the hot of the sun than the food burning time is to one day. That is weird.)

So that was all well and good, the whole team played well and we all went home very pleased with ourselves. But the PsephologyKid, (who long-time readers may remember from Raptember) then sent us THIS:

The Book of Beginning the World 

 1  

1 In the beginning God made the place where He lives and the world.  

2 And the world was without form, and empty; and the dark was upon the face of the deep. And the Mind of God moved upon the face of the waters.  

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.  

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God cut the light from the dark.  

5 And God called the light Day, and the dark He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.  

6 And God said, Let there be a layer in the middle of the waters, and let it keep the waters from the waters.  

7 And God made the layer, and kept the waters which were under the layer from the waters which were above the layer: and it was so.  

8 And God called the layer Sky. And the evening and the morning were the second day.  

9 And God said, Let the waters under the sky be brought together to one place, and let the dry place appear: and it was so.  

10 And God called the dry place Land; and the bringing together of the waters called He a name that sounds like "see" but is written with an a: and God saw that it was good.  

11 And God said, Let the land bring forward small leaves, the tree things you can eat which make wood drops that fall and grow into baby tree things, and the food tree giving food after his kind, which has its wood drops inside, upon the land: and it was so.  

12 And the land brought forward small leaves, and the tree things you can eat which make wood drops that fall and grow into baby tree things after his kind, and the tree giving food, which has its wood drops inside, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.  

13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.  

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the layer of the sky to keep the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for times of the year, and for days, and years:  

15 And let them be for lights in the layer of the sky to give light upon the world: and it was so.  

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to be in control in the day, and the lesser light to be in control in the night: He made the stars also.  

17 And God set them in the layer of the sky to give light upon the world,  

18 And to be great in the day and in the night, and to keep the light from the dark: and God saw that it was good.  

19 And the evening and the morning were day four.  

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forward lots of moving animals that hath life, and flying animals that may fly above the world in the open layer of sky.  

21 And God made great big animals that live in water, and every living animal that moves, which the waters brought forward lots of, after their kind, and every flying animal with flying arms after his kind: and God saw that it was good.  

22 And God wished them well, saying, Be full of babies, and have children, and fill the waters in the thing that sounds like "see" with an a, and let flying animals have children on the land.  

23 And the evening and the morning were day five.  

24 And God said, Let the land bring forward the living animal after his kind, food animals, and quietly moving things, and angry animals of the land after his kind: and it was so.  

25 And God made the angry animals of the land after his kind, and food animals after their kind, and every thing that walked quietly upon the land after his kind: and God saw that it was good.  

26 And God said, Let us make man in our form, after our looks: and let them have control over the water animals of the "see with an a", and over the flying animals of the air, and over the food animals, and over all the land, and over every quietly moving thing that moves quietly upon the land.  

27 So God made man in His own form, in the form of God made He him; boy and girl made He them.  

28 And God wished them well, and God said to them, Be full of babies, and have children, and fix the land, and control it: and have control over the water animals of the "see with an a", and over the flying animals of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the land.  

29 And God said, Check it out, I have given you every tree thing you can eat which make wood drops that fall and grow into baby tree things, which is upon the face of all the land, and every tree, in which is the food of a tree giving wood drops; to you it will be for food.  

30 And to every angry animal of the land, and to every flying animal of the air, and to every thing that moves quietly upon the land, where in there is life, I have given every green tree thing you can eat for food: and it was so.  

31 And God saw every thing that He had made, and, check it out, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were day six.

Check it out! It was very good!

Over the next few weeks we'll be sharing the ongoing story with you here, as the PsephologyKid thinks that it's not appropriate content for his blog, and we think it's too good not to share. we leave you now with this randomly selected memory verse from part ten and two:

You Have To Work At It

As has become long-held habit when posting something of a religious nature, let me encourage those of you that have turned up today wanting something other than an introspective on whatever matters spiritual have sprung into my diseased mind this weekend to either watch this video of me playing video games or go check out what some of my fellow Blaugustinians have been up to. Notably, Mark has been busily planning gardens, Laura has been breaking games, and Shaun has been reminding me of everything that was glorious about my childhood. Anyway, Wesnoth time, it's a short one today.

 

So, now that there's no-one here but us chickens... Last time, we talked about idolatry, and I played the rationalist card, attempting to justify my beliefs and some of my many inadequacies in terms more palatable to my non-religious friends than simply saying "A voice in the sky said it" or "A dead jew said it". This went over pretty well with many of my religious readers, though I haven't dared to bring the topic up with some of the, ah, less-than-religious readers for fear of the result (yes, I jest, let me take a moment right now to declare that I do not in any way see the non-religious as somehow 'lesser' that those upright religious folks, it's a turn of phrase).

 

This week, though, I'm pretty confident that I'm going to need to change my approach a little bit, as the topic that'd been on the forefront of my mind this week is the nature of prayer, and more specifically, intercessory prayer. That's not to say that there isn't a rationalist approach to prayer, as I'm sure that there is. I'm sure that there's an argument to be made that the act of prayer, taking the time and attempting to focus on what's falling short of our standards, what could be improved, and how that change might come about (whether or not there's some divine secretary taking notes) helps us to understand and begin to change things, as well as improve our general state of mind.

 

It often seems to me when I'm in periods of spiritual slump like the one I've been going through in recent months that this is all prayer IS doing, that I'm talking to myself and not to any kind of divine force. It still does some measure of good, even if that measure is nothing more than a placebo, and that's one the reasons that I keep doing it; but it falls so far short of the sense of communing with God that I'm used to feeling, let alone the spiritual ecstasy that I've experienced in various times over the years, that I can't help myself wanting something a little bit more substantial.

 

The thing is, most of the time when I'm praying I'm not praying for me and my outlook on life. I'm well aware of many of my deficiencies, and I often pray to be released from them, or for discernment, but much more often I'm undertaking intercessory prayer, both for situations that I have some involvement in and ability to change, and also for the God that I believe has an active part in lives to act in certain ways. Of course, this is where this rationalist approach breaks down. If I'm not praying for my own benefit or improvement in me or my attitudes, why do I bother doing it at all?

Is my God ignorant of my needs? Does my God need prayer in order to work? Does he not have enough power and wisdom to make this decisions and act on them himself? I know none of these things can possibly be true, if there's any reason for me to believe in this God at all. So why do I pray? Once I think I knew a bit better, but at the moment it pretty much boils down to "A dead Jew said it". In 1 John, I'm told that God will do what I ask for, if it's of his will, and I guess I should just trust that he's got a better plan than I do. I just I have to trust that he would have done it anyway, but that somehow my having prayed is significant. That's the part I miss understanding of at the moment, but for now I'll trust me some dead jews and wait to be enlightened.

Seems like a cop out again, doesn't it? It feels like one to me tonight, too. But it doesn't always. As I get into rhythms of prayer and study, and see what appear to me to obvious Godly interactions into those situations I've ben praying for, I cannot help but be heartened that somehow, beyond my understanding, something is happening. You can choose to believe it's a random universe if you want, but I've seen too many of my hopeless prayers answered to believe that.

I guess I'll just keep plugging away.

The Sea! The Sea!

Inspired by our Blagustine efforts, and some small amount of badgering, my mother has started a blog of her own. After reading just a couple of paragraphs, I was pleasantly surprised quite how much my writing style has so obviously been influenced by my folks. Reading some of her stuff feels a little bit like I'm back at home having a conversation over a cup of tea and a lot like I'm the cross-gender clone product of some illicit experiment. At least this way I'll be able to find out what she gets up to on her holidays!

I felt drawn to write a psalm after reading Xenophon's March this week. It feels strange and incongruous, given that Xenophon didn't share my faith, but the image of the sea as relief just seemed appropriate to me with some of what I've been going through lately. After I'd finished it I tried to compose a non-monotheistic, more Greek-feeling version, but I didn't like the result, so you get this. Make of it what you will.

Out of the wilderness you have led me,

despite the schemes of all my enemies,

through bitter cold and raging river.

Though many have fallen, you have sustained me,

And brought me at last to your safe country.

What could I do but raise an altar,

give praise to your name,

and fall prostrate before you?

My wonder shall not be surpassed.

My jubilant voice shall not fall silent.

Thalatta! Thalatta!

My Lord has delivered me.

I have no idea how I'm supposed to transition from this sort of stuff into being ready to throw down for Raptember in a couple of weeks.

It Sneaks Up On You

So, since I have Parliament House to myself this afternoon and am still having fun with this gaming thing, I've gone ahead and recorded another session of Imperial Era Battle for Wesnoth. This one follows on from yesterday's post, so if you've seen that and are interested in seeing what comes next, fell free to check it out.

Since in theory I planned for my weekend posts to have something of a religious nature, I'll now take a leaf out of the book of many preachers I've known over the years and draw some very long bows in order to connect scripture and gaming, then run with that theme for a little while. The video is a straight let's play, but the text from this point is likely to get all Christiany,  so this is your final chance to go talk about the mechanics of grapplers in fighter games if you're going to find the idea of me preaching at you too offensive.

I had a couple of ideas for what I wanted to talk about today, but settled on the obvious one given that instead of posting what I was vaguely planning to do today I've been playing video games. Let's say it together...Idolatry. A fancy pants way of saying 'getting your priorities all stuffed up'. Biblically, the most obvious examples are back in Exodus (Ex. 32 for those of your playing along at home) after the Israelites have been delivered from slavery, they set up camp at Mount Sinai, Moses heads up the hill to meet with the big guy, and immediately by the time he's come back down, despite everything that they've just seen and experienced, they've set up a complicated gold-smithing rig, melted their remaining possessions to make a golden idol, and are worshipping that instead. Talk about fickle. I mean, dude.

They do this over and over again, substituting foreign religions or their own made up ones dozens, hundreds of times, and I know what that's like. The Israelites knew acutely what their God had done for them, knew that he demanded their loyalty, but still went running to the shinies whenever things got difficult. I know the habits that I should be propagating if I'm going to be the kind of person that I want to be. And maybe it should be easier for me that for my non-religious friends because I have a set of guidelines handed down on how I'm supposed to do it. But I don't do those things because that would cut down on my crucial sleeping, gaming and reading times.

It's easy to stuff up your priorities, but as a practicing Christian I'm very fortunate that I go along to church most weeks and along with some tasty bread and wine, and the fellowship of good people, I get regular reminders and time to think about where I should be, where I am, and what's gone wrong. Even if I completely neglect my own personal discipline in favour of playing Wesnoth, which has been known to happen on occasion, I have a fall-back. Still, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that because you have a fall back you don't need to spend time trying to get it right the first time, a trap I fall into with my spiritual life just as much as I do when I'm attempting to organise a video-games convention.

I know some of my non-Christian friends would be jumping up and down right now, saying, "But Ted, you're still a good guy, you just believe in this crackpot god that has unrealistic standards and is trying to guilt you into being a boring copy of your great-father. Why bother?" But the fact of the matter is no matter how real you might believe my version of the Christian God to be, I can't escape the apparent fact that when I'm practising my religion that I'm more attuned to the saviour that changed my life. I'm more understanding, less selfish, I feel stronger, and happier, and more capable, and I think every now and then I even take a good shot at wisdom. And I'd happily trade the person that I am most days for a person with those attributes. It's not about being a 'good Christian', it's about being a better version of myself, and I think that's a goal that everyone can aspire to.

I could go on, but those who get it don't need it, and those who don't get it are undoubtedly waiting for me to get to the point, so here it is. If I can find time to blog every day, if I can find time to read every day, I can can find time to play, record, and upload Wesnoth videos, even at the horrendous speeds of Australian internet connections, then I have the time, and I should use the time to take the tools I've been given, be they spiritual, or philosophical, or anything else, to try to become the better version of myself that I know that I can be.

My Christian teaching tells me that there's a better, more prefect version of everyone out there waiting to be found, and that there always will be no matter how hard we strive, since we were made as copies of a perfect creator. It's not pessimistic at all, it's honest. I know myself well enough to know that I'm not perfect and to have my doubts about other people too. I guess the argument falls down if you believe that you're already the best possible version of yourself, but if you don't, then work out what direction 'best' is for you, and try attaining it every once in a while.

For me, my best is found in my religion, in immersing myself in the bible, in prayer, and in conversations with godly people. In striving to meet the example of my saviour. And I see it often and acutely at the oddest moments, and live for those moments when I know I'm on the right path. For you? I don't presume to know, but I'd like to take this time to encourage you to find out if you don't know, and if you do, the practice your 'religion', whatever it is, for a bit too, and leave the idols alone for a little bit.

Which reminds me, I've got something I need to do now. Tune in tomorrow for something a little more light-hearted.

Can Christians play chess?

Monday. Vaguely religious-themed day. You guys get to be my diary for a bit. Could get personal, will be muddled, will probably contradict myself. You've been warned.
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When I arrived at church yesterday I was greeted by a number of activites in the foyer, abrightly coloured parachute, a pool table, some giant jenga blocks, a game of twister and a large foam chess set. It was an all-ages service, something that our church does every now and then, and I look forward to them because 'all-ages' generally means 'for the kids', and that means that I can dance to the music without getting funny looks (because kids songs generally have actions), don't have to listen very hard to the sermon (if there is one), and can generally act up, just enjoying being in the company of my friends in a gentle and welcoming atmosphere of the church community. The service didn't disappoint, it had enough depth to it to be a nice reminder to me about the nature of prayer, allowing people to share with each other instead of just sitting back listening to a minister, while keeping the kids at least moderately interested. This is a difficult task which I've tried to achieve before with only limited success, as it's hard to gear something so that adults will still get something out of a service that is by neccesity built for and around young children, and the old rule about never working with children or animals is a rule for a very good reason.

But that's not what this post is about. No, as you may have guessed given that this is the Leaflocker and I am who I am, this is a post about the chess and the Christian attitude towards it and other games, and just a bit of a braindump in general. It's going to ramble a bit as there isn't really a plan and I've got a couple of different ideas that I'd like to play with, a little bit serious and a little bit tongue in cheek, and of course it'll come at things from a Christian perspective, so if you dislike poor prose or religious content, this is your first and final warning: go read Dinosaur Comics or something.

The board was set up underneath a poster that explained that 'Chess is like our Christian lives; it requires forward planning, respect of your fellow players and the ability to adapt to new challenges' (I meant to take down what it said exactly, but the sign had disappeared by the time I got back there after the service, so I must apologise if my quote is not spot-on). This is an example of a habit of religious people that I find incredibly irritating, the idea that the word 'Christian' in that sentence makes any difference, implying that those who aren't Christian can't plan for the future or respect others, and aren't equipped to deal with new challenges. It might be true that non-Christians don't come at problems the same way that we do (at least when we're coming at things the way we should), but the kind of attitude that supposes that the heathens are somehow lesser than we are must be avoided like the plague.

I'm certain that this isn't what was meant by this sign, that for whoever wrote it 'Christian life' and 'life' are seem like synonyms in a religious setting. The ability that some people are blessed with, to look at parts of everyday life and see what it can teach us about the nature of God and creation, is a beautiful and precious gift that I try to foster in myself, but I see a danger here, an extension of the 'us and them' mentality that only causes divides and breeds an isolationism and disconnect between Christians and the rest of the world, something that worries me whenever I see it.

But I also see another message in this simple sign, something that as a gamer paused me to stop and think on a topic that I've visited many times in the past and will undoubtedly visit again. The mere presence of the sign, the acknowledgement that a game needs some justification of its holiness to be in the church foyer, worries me. Why can't a game be there as something for people (players and kibitzers) to do together to pass the time before the service? Why does it have to be justified as something that builds us up and can teach us something about God? A pool table is just a pool table, a chess board is just a chess board, a medium for us to exercise or minds and our bodies, share with others just by being together? Maybe that's enough. But when we spend hours bent over a pool table or a chessboard, honing our skills and testing our mind alone, is that enough?

When I estimate the hours of my life spent playing or thinking about video games, for example, playing Pokemon, watching re-runs of Doctor Who, reading pulp science-fiction, things that have little or no positive effect on the world around me, it adds up a very large amount of time. Am I not only wasting that time, am I practising something that is inherently sinful? I've always settled on the position that as long as I don't set up these things as idols that distract me from the important things in my life, that they're acceptable, that they're beneficial even, to relax me, to occupy me, to improve my brain in some abstract and not easily defined way. Do I have to find something in every activity in my life that makes me more holy or helps myself or someone else in some little way for it to be justified?

It would be easier to just do as the Romans do, to justify things by saying "I am enjoying this, therefore I shall do it more", and trust that my God made me in such a way that I would only enjoy those things that are good for me, but that's a pretty cissy philosophy that doesn't gel with Christianity. I am fortunate enough to be part of a religion where there is a guidebook, albeit a few thousand years out of date, and it's pretty clear that doing as we wish isn't how we please God. So how do I find a middle-ground, where I can enjoy the little things, help bring joy to the lives of the people around me, and grow closer to God at the same time.

I don't know. I've never known. I try things, and they mostly don't work. But I know that I can't spend my life concerned only with Godly things or I'll go mad, and I know that I could easily spend my life playing games, but I'd be just as mad. I guess I just keep trying to spend as much time as I can bring myself to in the first category, pray for the strength and the wisdom to know the difference, and get as good at the French Defence as I can along the way.

But since I like to hedge my bets, here's a few tongue-in-cheek justifications for the way I seem to be spending my down-time at the moment:
'Chess is like life. It teaches us that those who move first have a slight advantage, that learning from the book isn't enough without real experience, and that sometimes a draw is the best outcome we can hope for.'
'Trumpeting is llike life. We'll only get better at it if we grow the calluses, and until then it's sometimes going to be terrible.'
'Chaturangaraja is like life. It teaches us the power of the King, not to neglect the little pieces, and that even the smallest actions can yield unexpected fruit.'
'Doctor Who is like life. There's always time to talk, the nice guys always win in the end, and that there's always another Dalek just around the corner.'
'Pokemon is like life. It teaches us to devote time to levelling up, even when it seems like a grind, to regularly check the guidebook for handy hints, to talk to everybody, and to always keep a stock of pokeballs. And you can always make it harder if you want a challenge.'
'Drinking tea is like life. It might be bitter, but the world be a less interesting place and conversations would be more awkward without it.'

It's Getting Heretical in Here

What follows is my response to this, in keeping with my now long-established tradition of stealing his ideas and reusing them for my own gain. This week's number shows Pope Gregory the Great (who we met last week) slightly earlier in his life before he became pope, laying down the liturgical law for St. Eutychius.

Now Eutychius was, by this point, one of the most prominent members of the Eastern Church; he'd led what would later come to be considered as the Fifth Ecumenical Council, and was Patriarch of Constantinople, an important enough man to mess with the Emperor and escape with his head. However, Eutychius did not subscribe to the doctrine of bodily resurrection, believing instead that the soul after resurrection would become "less than air", which caused him some problems with Gregory, whom as we have already discovered took all this religion stuff pretty seriously.

Now bodily resurrection, unfortunate similarities to zombieism and all, is a central tenet of the church, mentioned regularly in the earliest surviving Christian writings, like those of St. Ignatius of Antioch, writing at the turn of the first century AD (and in whose work we see the first mention of the words 'catholic church', incidentally). The reason that it was mentioned so often in these texts is that it was the bone of contention for so many of the early heresies, and the surviving writings of the period are mostly epistles from the church fathers to leaders, expounding the understanding of the church and written directly in opposition to heresy. Many views on the nature of the resurrection arose, some of which would reappear again and again in the history of the early church, so much so that bodily resurrection became a part of the Apostles Creed, the statement of faith that churches around the world still use today. As such, I've been familiar with the words for a long time, but bodily resurrection for the masses really gets to me, and one of the reasons that I put off my confirmation for so long was that I, like Eutychius, have some problems with it.

The concept of universal bodily resurrection is based primarily on the biblical resurrection of Jesus, who the gospels tell us physically rose, such that his feet could be touched from a venerating prostrate position, he could break bread and eat with the disciples, and even have his physical wounds poked and prodded by my ever-doubtful namesake (with whom I have always felt a strange kinship). Resurrection was taught by the Jews, many of the prophets talked about the dead rising from the Earth, Jesus supports this himself, and early church leaders like Ignatius and Paul held this to mean actual physical bodily resurrection like that demonstrated by Jesus, but that interpretation just doesn't sit nicely for me (I'm a fan of metaphor and Jesus seems to have been as well, what with all the parables). The primary gospel support for the position that there are actual physical bodies in heaven comes from Matthew 22 (and its equivalents in Mark and Luke), when Jesus is arguing with the Sadduccees, in which he states that risen humans will be like the angels. Now as far as my memory serves me, there is no mention in the bible of an angel physically interacting with the material world, they appear to be purely spiritual beings, as fearsome as they may be (correct me if I'm wrong, out there, the comments thread is open).

EDIT: I've never pretended to a good biblical knowledge. A reader has reminded me of the angels that ate with Lot and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Enquiries are ongoing.

Thus, I'm with Eutychius, not Gregory, in thinking that a non-physical resurrection seems more in keeping with the teachings of Jesus that a physical one. Which at least means it'll all be a little less confusing since we won't have to go around sorting out all the bits and pieces which have decayed, or cremated, or scattered, and a non-physical existence is still "life", if Doctor Who has taught me anything. In the sixth century I may have been a heretic, but the advice I was given when I brought this up as a reason for my unconfirmed status could be approximated as "well, if that's all that's stopping you...". To my mind, the nature of resurrection is an unknowable mystery. I'm ok with that, and don't need to worry about whether I'll be buried with my feet to the East or feel bad about donating my organs to science or medicine, because I don't think that having my body in one piece is required for redemption.

Either way, Gregory knew where he stood (or sat, anyway, because of the gout), and he sure was convincing in his argument, as he managed to convince the Emperor to gather together and destroy all the works of Eutychius; who is reputed to have recanted of his heretical beliefs on his deathbed with the quote from the ever-poetic Job "I confess that in this flesh we shall rise again" , which at least allowed his disciples a chance to save face and assured him a place in the echelon of recognised saints.

And leaves me in a bit of a pickle without a Church father to trot out in support of my little heresy. Poop. Then again, being protestant I'm part of a great big heresy anyway, so what's one more?

Get a Job (Nananananananana)

I promised some Canadian chick that the next time I sat myself down to do a devotion I'd post it for her delectation, if delecatation is a word that can be applied to devotions. To be perfectly honest I'm a little bit uncomfortable about being so openly religious on this here blog, given that I'm not normally much of a bible-basher and in public I tend to enjoy laughing at aspects of my religion rather than defending it, but I'm going to give it a try anyway, since it's at least as much a part of me as wearing silly ties.

If me getting all Christian on your ass is disturbing, feel free to leave now and come back tomorrow, when I'll be talking about Japanese girls in short skirts. If you need something else to read right now, here's something a friend of mine recommended to the other day, which is kind of cute (it's a pity that the cute is ruined by the last two panels a little bit, but at least it's better than much of the rest of the archive, which is distinctly nsfw).

Anyway, my random flipping through the bible (I seem chronically unable to keep to any kind of reading plan or schedule) landed me in the Book of Job, in which Job despairs at the unfairness of his life and the cruelty of God; about the most cheery place a guy can end up when he's feeling down, except perhaps Lamentations or Jeremiah. The good thing about Job is that it's full of beautiful flowing poetic language like this little excerpt from 10:10-12:

Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese,
clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews?
You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit.

It's very, very readable, and before long I found myself swept away in the language and the drama and distracted from the purpose of the reading, which is to gain something of an understanding of God as he applies to my life. Too often with bible readings, I have either this problem, or the problem of feeling like I know it all already, like I'm not learning anything new despite other people sharing their experiences and insights. Job has the same problem in 12:2-3, but he's much snarkier and ruder than I am, and responds to his friends thus:

Doubtless you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!
But I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know all of these things?

The difference between Job and me is that it's right down there in the text that Job is a godly man, and Job does actually understand all the arguments that his friends are making in defence of God, whereas I just think I do. The fact remains, though, that too often I feel like I'm being taught something or am trying to teach myself something that I already know; and my university experience lets me know that nothing is as fun the second time around, be it Mathematics 1A or Theology 101.

However, since I know it's what I'm meant to do and somewhere deep down I really do think that it's good for me (probably more so than finishing up Pokemon Tower), I settled down and gave it a go, and blow me down if I didn't find something worth mentioning to a Canadian chick (and apparently the internet at large). At least, it seems to me where I'm at at quarter past twelve at night like it's worth saying (I'm writing this Sunday night for posting on Monday), I'm not saying anything new, to me or to anyone else, but right now it's encouraging. Hopefully the religious types amongst you might find it kind of interesting, and the irreligious ones might find it interesting from a scientific viewpoint, or something, and all of your will get some kind of idea of where I'm at just at this second, which is a nice little point of fellowship, I suppose. The text in question is Job 5:17-27:

Blessed is the man whom God corrects;
so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
For he wounds, but he also binds up;
he injures, but his hands also heal.
From six calamities he will rescue you;
in seven no harm will befall you.
In famine he will ransom you from death,
and in battle from the stroke of the sword.
You will be protected from the lash of the tongue,
and need not fear when destruction comes.
You will laugh at destruction and famine,
and need not fear the beasts of the earth.
For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field,
and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
You will know that your tent is secure;
you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing.
You will know that your children will be many,
and your descendants like the grass of the earth.
You will come to the grave in full vigour,
like sheaves gathered in season.
We have examined this and it is true.
So hear it and apply it to yourself.

That's some good advice there, thanks Eliphaz the Temanite! Contained here is the centre of apology, that God breaks down so that he can build, that the good of his actions in the world is greater than the evil, that he is at work for the ultimate blessing of his people; and we're called to submit to his discipline with joy. Now any concordance or preacher will tell you that Eliphaz and Job's other friends are off base because their advice is all based on the assuption that Job is a sinner when in fact Job is the apple of god's eye. In sermons time after time, I hear that we're supposed to hear the words of Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar and Elihu, but disregard them because Job has a better understanding of the Almighty.

With the way I've been feeling at the moment, though, my repeated refusal to acknowledge my own errors, the powerlessness to change the weaknesses that I do notice, it seems to me that Eliphaz is on the money (Often when I read Job I feel this way, that the theological statements of the 'wrong' friends are more useful than God's tirade of rhetorical questions come the end of the book). Instead of despairing that I am lost and confused, I should be watching out for my every mistake and actively trying to atone and correct for them, in my relationships, in my working life, and in all the other places too. This isn't anything groundbreaking, but at this moment I feel like it's a reminder that I needed, expressed in a way that I can get behind. Best of all, there is a promise that if I can reconcile myself to God's teaching in these ways that I will be rewarded, I'd like to pretend that I don't need a reward to want to do those things that I know are right, but I'd be a sucker to pass up a chance at things getting better instead of piling up getting worse.

So, it's time for a little more introspection (is that a word?). A little less time playing chess and a little more being helpful around home. A little less time spent sending silly personal emails and a little more getting down to business. Perhaps most of all, a little more time for devotion and prayer and a little less training up my Sandslash (which, I feel compelled to tell you, is kick ass).

Of course, this isn't something new for me, these are problems I constantly notice in myself and constantly fail to fix, mostly because I keep on thinking that I can do it alone. Chances are that if I continue making Monday a devotion post (which seems like a cool idea right now) it'll come up again and again, until you and I are bored to death of it. Anyway, until then, let me leave you with a little something from the Man himself, via Job 38:1-3, that I'll be using as the core of my focus tonight as a call to thoughtful prayer, expectant silence, introspection and acceptance...

Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you, and you shall answer me.