Mark opened with a reading from Proverbs 30, which (among other things) highlights the mystery and wonder of creation. He talked about seeing the creation with new eyes, especially with the Spirit now given to God's people after Pentecost.
He reviewed the first three nights and dropped in this fantastic and extremely quotable phrase about Resurrection v. 'immortality':
"Immortality has no respect for physicality. Resurrection is the redemption of physicality."
He also added a great addition to the story of him and Luke, and how he got to the point in his mountain bike racing where he was able to 'not hold back'... The key moment was when Mark saw Luke off at the top of the mount, and instead of Luke's usual words - 'See you at the bottom', he smiled and said... 'Watch
this.' Also he shared how Luke's attitude has matured to the point where he now starts every race with the brief thought/prayer, '
Lord, thank You for this gift.' Brilliant.
He further reviewed the previous weeks, picking up on these points:
-Double Knowledge <> Trinity <> Image of God
-One and Many, Universal and Particular
-Thought: 'Knowing' in the Trinity (Father knows himself more by knowing the Son, and so on...)
-You in the particularity of your brilliance and stories
-Your whole life reveals God: (Text, Soul & Culture)
Just before the break, Mark showed some paintings from Marcia Hinds (view her work
here), and talked about how God takes us on our 'journey' and uses the story of our own lives. He gave these points:
-Transformation >> towards the original intent
-Modelled >> In the life Jesus promised and the Spirit gifted
-Modelled >> In a community that knows this life
-AND... For the sheer wonder of LIFE!!!
After the break, before surveying various realms of life, Mark shared a phrase he picked up in his travels:
"Know the Gospel. Know the Culture. Translate Well."
He then moved on to these categories of human experience...
Art-we sense that everything 'speaks'
-we sense how things are perspectives on other things
-we seek beauty at the core of our lives, not at the fringes
Knowledge-we feel rationalism brutalising us
-we feel relativism leaving us empty
-we know truly & sufficiently, not exhaustively
-we sense the brilliance of love
Music-we cherish the order & discipline that make freedom possible
-we feel tension and resolution
-we were born to improvise
Theatre-we are learning how to read the script(ure) well
-we are learning how to bring a scrip(ure) to life
-we are learning the ars of 'finishing the play' (Tom Wright)
Community-we long for it
-we find it in unlikely places
-we find ourselves changed in it
-we sense the implications of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control
(Mark briefly noted that most converstations about social justice issues lack a clear anthropology.)
Architecture-we respect what does more than keep us dry and warm
-we judge by what we want to be
-we seek promises of happiness
Sport-we exult in the thrill of the game
-we rejoice in RISK
-we know the dignity of playing hard
-we know some things only come by pushing as hard as we can
Conversation-we sit with uncertainty
-we become open to the messiness that brings clarity and makes things happen
-we know meaning in the smallest delights
Culture-we must honour what is different (diversity)
-we must honour what is common (unity)
Work-we honour gain that comes from honest toil
-we rejoice to accomplish
-we honour initiative
-we delight in making and doing what has not been done
Environment-we are stilled
-we open to complexity wrapped in beauty
-we feel that wondrous interconnectedness we call 'system'
-we need our calling to stewardship made vivid
Friendship-we know some things just can't be said
-we sense the depth in silence
-we honour small things
-we remind ourselves of who we are and what our lives mean
Intimacy-we long to be known as we are known
-we long to love as one who is distinct but who chooses to embrace
-we were made for desire and delight
Leadership-we know it is a really simply human thing
-we sense it's about wisdom, not fads
-we grasp the way the Gospel reframes it
Aging-we feel the seasons
-we honour the seasons
-we honour innocence AND experience
-we must know how to finish well
Suffering-we feel the tragedy of sin and the promise of grace
-we see the brilliance of hope
-we sense what words can never convey
-we learn not to fake our answers
Then Mark shared his poem 'This God' with us. The question of 'was Jesus God?' is answered by Tom Wright as '...it depends on which God you mean.' Mark has attempted to answer the question backwards - 'What kind of God would become Jesus?'
(an 'un-edited' version I have from another conference/retreat...)
This God
This God could put on eyebrows and kneecaps, tear ducts and saliva glands.
This God could be born under the tyrants Augustus and Herod.
This God could accept the smells of shepherds, and the extravagancies of political emissaries.
This God could start life a vulnerable hunted child born into scandal.
This God could grow up under foreign domination and among terrorists and outcasts.
This God could sit in the street playing marbles.
This God could wear with pride the calloused splintered hands of an honest workman building the houses and fixing the furniture of half-castes, outcasts and bigots.
This God could ask his cousin to baptise him along with the rest of the crowd.
This God could make the best vintage Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon even when the guests were too drunk to know the difference.
This God could befriend a bloke in a tree with small man syndrome.
This God could enjoy a prostitute washing his feet, giving her his full and undivided attention, and ignoring the eye-rolling of lawyers and theologians.
This God could spend a whole night making a whip to crack over the backs of con artists who rip-off the poor.
This God could wrap the greatest truths in the simplest stories, and put a sting in the tail of every yarn.
This God could let himself hang on a tree, nails tearing at his sinews, blood, faeces and urine running down his legs.
This God could invite women to be the first to know that he was back.
This God could delay his own glorious homecoming long enough for a bite of breakfast on the beach and a yarn with an old mate to let him know there were no hard feelings and to pass on his mantle.
This God could take his own story and give it the most surprising ending.
This God, this God, is worth knowing. This God could reach into the crevices of my soul to bring to life the longings I smother so pathetically and recklessly with shame and excuses.
This God could raise me up to life with him.
This God could give me every blessing he could give himself.
This God could draw me out of my petty self-interest without a hint of a ‘tut-tut’, a frown, or a patronising smile.
This God could be more infuriating and fascinating and gobsmacking than any god I could ever make up.
This God could love my obsessiveness and overlook my forgetfulness.
This God could laugh and cry with me, and come play with me.
This God could make me his glory.
This God could love me.
This God could make my heart good.
This God could trust me.
This God could never be safe, but always be good.
This God, this God, is worth knowing.
This God I want to know.
This God I know in the face and Spirit of Jesus.
by Mark Strom
And he closed with good 'ol Bob Dylan 'Forever Young'
Comments with your thoughts, stories, wisdom, etc.!!!
It's that time again!
