Christmas and Isaiah

After studying Isaiah all semester, and recently looking at Isaiah 52 and how significant the Exodus background is, I really enjoyed singing 'O come, o come, Emmanuel' last Sunday:

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Refrain

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

Refrain

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

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O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

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O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

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O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

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O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.

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O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Refrain

Getting started with everyday ethics

A friend asked me a few days ago what resources I'd recommend for 'living ethically'. That's a broad topic, and I've realized that most of my thinking goes into the choices we make everyday - at the shops, what transport we use, what clothes we wear, etc, impact people's lives around the world. Even though we don't ever see these people (and corporations usually prefer that consumers don't hear about the worst production practices), collectively we have a powerful voice, since businesses care about what consumers want. The common expression is that we vote with our dollars.

I've got heaps of ideas about where to start, but one favourite is this book:

Everyday Justice, by Julie Clawson

I like this book for a few reasons:

• It starts with the message 'Don't panic' - which is so helpful in an area that can be overwhelming. In other words, it's a gracious approach.
• It also begins with a discussion of what justice is biblically. I read it a while ago, and wasn't reading it critically, but this is a good place to start a book like this.
• It chooses a manageable number (8) of everyday ethical issues, and explores each from the perspective of someone who has never thought about it.

The main drawback is that it's written by a US author for a US audience. Our situation is somewhat different, but it's still worth it for an introduction to everyday ethical choices - I'd just recommend doing some local research as well.

The Lord's Prayer as a first prayer

While I was supposed to be writing my essay last week, I flipped through a copy of John Dickson's booklet, Jesus: a primer for the curious. After highlighting a number of Jesus' different roles (which were excellent - straight from Luke's gospel), he finishes with 'Portrait of a Christian'. This page provides an idea of what it looks like to follow Jesus, and particularly how to start following him.

It was so refreshing to see the Lord's prayer presented here as a first prayer - surprisingly (now that I stop to reflect), I haven't ever seen that before in a tract. It's such a biblical way to start - not an odd 'first prayer' that only confesses sin, but to start with so many themes that Jesus presents as important!

A blog?

I've recently finished up a job at a church in inner city Melbourne. I was the Community and Mission Minister, and - along with my husband and a number of other staff - left involuntarily.

It's thrown up identity issues - am I interested in expressing faith in Jesus in urban culture because that was my job? Or did I have that job because that interest is part of who I am and will continue to be?

For the time being, since I still live in and love Brunswick, and am now - for the first time - attending a church in Brunswick, I figure I'll keep exploring these thoughts. And a blog seems a way to keep connecting with these ideas and expressing the thinking that I've loved doing.

So... I don't know how regularly, or for how long, but here's a first(ish) post.