a place for Rob to share thoughts on the Bible, the world, God and storytelling http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php Copyright: The Backyard Bard 2010 Hey everyone, This blog is here is a place for me to express my thoughts on life, God, the Bible, storytelling and the world. It may not be of interest to anyone but me but as long as I have a place to collect my thoughts, it will save frustration when can't remember a brainwave that I'd previously had because I hadn't written it down. Happy reading! http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=208 Post208 Sun, 09 Mar 2008 18:27:17 EST Most of you reading this won't know this, but I've felt like I've been in a 'storytelling rut' for a long time. I used to be confident when telling stories but for the last while, I've felt inadequate and foolish. The word that kept coming into my head was the heard 'pokey'. I don't really know what that word means - but the way I thought about my storytelling was that it was second-rate, unprofessional, lame and so on. Sometimes I felt encouraged after a storytelling but more often than not I'd feel disappointed. I've felt like a fraud starting to do this as a job full-time. This morning, driving to do a storytelling at a school to do an Easter storytelling, I was impacted again by the truth of the Gospel and the fact that Jesus has been resurrected means this truth must be told. I was impacted again that these were God's powerful words and that it was true regardless of how well I performed. These were God's words and I should speak them like they are God's words. These weren't new things but I really needed a good reminding. The result was that I more confident that I'd been for a very long time and I enjoyed the retelling more than I had for a long time as well. I'm sure that the kids were more connected because of it. I feel like today is a new stage in my storytelling ministry. I might still struggle with doubts about my ability and so forth, and I may still be disappointed after storytellings, but I'm sure that I will begin to enjoy storytelling again and people will be connected to God through His powerful word. It's a priviledge to be part of His work. http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=210 Post210 Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:48:55 EST I had a conversation with a man last week about Science and Christianity. He thought (as do many others) that the people in the times the Bible was written were naive enough to believe in the resurrection and Jesus' miraculous conception because they were from a pre-scientific age. In times past, people had to explain the world using God but now we have the benefit of science which helps us study things as they are.  I've had the privilege of storytelling both the resurrection story from Matthew's Gospel and the announcement to Mary in Luke's Gospel this week and these are my thoughts. In Matthew 28:16, we are told that at the point where the disciples see the resurrected Jesus in Galilee, they worship him, but some doubt. People study this text and debate about who Matthew is talking about to what extent they doubted, how could Matthew be saying this at this climax in the story. But all this debate emphasises the strange addition of that line, the exclusion of which would have made a much neater story. But the fact that it is included gives be a great deal of comfort, in the integrity of the Gospel's author and in the disciples. The only reason I can justify Matthew including the reference to the disciples' doubt at this key moment is that he is simply recording what happened. Secondly it shows that the disciples weren't simply pre-scientific and gullible. You don't have to know the Theory of Relativity or have studied Grey's Anatomy to know that dead people don't rise. To think that we are so much more enlightened on this issue than the disciples would have been is arrogant and false. They were in just as much a place to be skeptical about a resurrection as us, even when they were face-to-face with their friend who'd be resurrected. Secondly, I've been able to prepare a storytelling of Luke 1 where the angel Gabriel goes to Zechariah to say his aging wife will be pregnant and then goes to Mary to say that she will be pregnant. Again, we don't have to be experts in Quantum mechanics or IVF to know that a virgin can't become pregnant or an aging couple is extremely unlikely to become pregnant. The skepticism of Zechariah at hearing the announcement is central to the story. Similarly with Mary: 'How can this be, since I am a virgin', she said. Mary isn't so naive to think that this could just happen the Gabriel sets both of them straight: "... nothing is impossible for God".  How dare we think that the creator of the universe who first thought of conception, death, gravity, galactic clusters and everything else could be bound by our simplistic understanding. How dare we think we so sophisticated now 2000 years later with so much more knowledge than these saps when God know infinitely more about the created order that we could ever imagine. We are neither cleverer than our first century counterparts nor less gullible, except we might be more foolish than them because we presume we must know everything. A very unscientific attitude. http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=211 Post211 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:01:03 EST With surprising consistency, after describing my job as a Biblical Storyteller to a person I meet, the response is: “So does that mean you work in schools?”. While I consider telling Bible stories to children one of the highest privileges in my job, this response betrays a thinking about the stories in the Bible, that after you graduate from Sunday School, Bible stories are no longer as relevant. Naturally, any perception that undervalues more than 50% of the Bible needs to be challenged. Therefore, here is why I believe that the stories in the Bible deserve to be cherished, honoured and continually retold by all. The Stories are filled with life Often our storytellers receive comments from audience members that ‘You brought the Bible to life’. Though flattering as this may be, it isn’t actually true. The Bible already is living and active. As God’s powerful word, it already is the source of life for the hearers. To bring the Bible to life is ask the patient to perform surgery on the doctor. The responsibility of us all as storytellers (be it sharing a Bible story over a coffee, from the pulpit or as a theatre performance in my case) is to tap into all the life and the dynamism that is already there. These stories are filled with life, drama, humor, tension and emotion. Sadly, I believe that the comments that we receive about ‘bringing the Bible to life’ are really statements about the lifeless way these stories have sometimes been presented on other occasions. In our experience, everyone, Christian and non-Christian alike, are impacted profoundly upon experiencing the richness and beauty of these Biblical stories. The Stories are part of a greater Story In order to abandon all absolute reference points and in rebellion against God, our society has largely rejected any concept of an over-arching story to understand the world by. What we are left with a universe which started as an accident, continues by chance and signifies nothing. Nevertheless, God is a purposeful creator and the Bible records and interprets God’s actions in history to bring about his plans. History stands as a testament to the will and the design of this God who acts in it. All the Bible, including even the non-narrative sections, sit within this grand story from Creation to New Creation. I still remember daydreaming during a year 10 German class when this aspect of the Bible dawned on me; I gave such an audible gasp that I startled the students around me.  It’s this over-arching story that gives humanity meaning and therefore one of the grandest things in the world to do is to share these grand stories. Each story reveals to the hearers an episode in the eternal plan of God of which we are part and which is marching towards it’s wonderful culmination. The Stories reveal God in action How can a wife know her husband loves her. Firstly, he may tell her so. Countless times during courtship and in promises on their wedding day, the wife knows and believes the husband’s love because of his words. Secondly, he may show her by her actions. If the husband, time-after-time acts sacrificially in the interest of his wife, his love will be revealed by what he does. These actions powerfully reinforce and give meaning to the words that he had spoken. So it is with the stories in the Bible. How do we know God is faithful? We hear God tell us that He is faithful, but we also see God in action through the stories that show God acting in faithfulness. Consider any or all of the characteristics about God that you believe in. There will be stories in the Bible which demonstrate these great truths about God. Moreover, the stories give meaning to these truths. The statement ‘God is Salvation’ is itself meaningless without reference to actions in history work God had worked to save. God is a God of action. To know a God of action, you must see him at work. The stories in the Bible communicate God to the world. The real need is for us to connect with these stories for what they are, to see these stories as real events and the characters as real characters, with real motivations, problems and emotions. I imagine those who originally heard these stories would have had no problem in this regard. Then, once a story is deeply connected within our soul, will we be able to share it with the integrity that it deserves and our hearers see the reality of which it speaks.     http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=213 Post213 Tue, 13 May 2008 01:52:59 EST I've recently started everyday to study a Psalm then read it aloud a few times. I hoped that this would improve my normal reading of the Bible aloud as well as work on my voice and also be a great spiritual exercise. I've found it fantastic. This morning I was reading Psalm 62. Reading verse 8 aloud struck me: Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah - Psalm 62:8 It reminded me of a tip Simon Camilleri told me when I was preparing the Public Bible Reading Crash Course. He said that, reading the passage bringing out the meaning in the way you say it, you should also bring out the intention of the author had for writing the passage as well. If the passage was meant to be an encouragement to the hearers, then you have the privilege of encouraging your hearers as you read aloud their words. If the words were originally meant to be a warning for people, you have the responsibility of warning them. The original (human) authors can't be present, but they have given us their words to bring about what they originally intended. When David wrote these words in Psalm 62:8, he was addressing them directly to people to urge them to trust God, talk to Him and rely on Him. If we were to read this aloud at church, we would have the role to be urging people in the same way. What a wonderful honour. But, as I was thinking about this and reading the Psalm again, another verse struck me For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,  for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation,  my fortress; I shall not be shaken. - Psalm 62:5-6 Here David is addressing himself, encouraging himself to hope and wait in nobody else but God. I guess he that although he knew this to be true, he knew he needed to be reminded of this and to encourage himself with these words. As I was reading these words aloud, I was addressing these words to myself, and found them to be marvelously heartening. Maybe David was a little like me, needing to constantly remind myself of true things about God.  It made me think of all the other places in the Psalms where the writers said the same thing: Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. - Psalm 42:5f Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! - Psalm 103:1 Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you. - Psalm 116:7 In my job, where I'm constantly addressing people with truths about God, I need to remember to address them to myself as well. http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=215 Post215 Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:41:22 EST I’ve been telling the Christmas story from Luke’s Gospel quite a bit over the past weeks and I theme has struck me: “Believing what God’s told you”. The first example of this theme is when the angel Gabriel tells Zechariah about how he will have a son. Zechariah immediately questions the plausibility of it. Then the angel seems ticked off: "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time." Contrast this with Mary’s response to the angel after he tells her that she will have a son even though she’s a virgin. She at first questions the means by which it could happen and then she says: "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said.” Mary’s relative Elizabeth (filled with the Holy Spirit) soon praises her saying: “Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!” Mary’s magnificat again brings up this theme of believing God’s words - this time it’s talking about the words of the Old Testament: "He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers." Zechariah’s prophecy makes a similar point: "He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago)" Again we see theme worked out in the story about the shepherds who hear that the Messiah’s been born and that he would be lying in a manger. After seeing him: "The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told." Similarly, this theme is at the centre of the story about Simeon, to whom God said would not die before he saw the Lord’s Messiah. All this would naturally be encouraging to Theophillus, to whom Luke wrote “so that [he] may know the certainty of the things [he had] been taught.” It’s been encouraging to me too and I hope for you also: What God says about Jesus is trustworthy - listen to it. It’s proved trustworthy in the past. You can have certainty about it. UPDATE: After checking the passage in the World English Bible (WEB) for Luke 1:37 I see this point is what the angel Gabriel was trying to emphasise as well: "For everything spoken by God is possible." Or, more literally: "Because God's every word will not be impossible." http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=216 Post216 Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:27:30 EST Simone has been on antibiotics after giving birth and last week we noticed that this was affecting Hannah giving her quite a bit of discomfort, leading her to be quite unsettled and she sometimes will cry for long periods without Simone or I being able to console her. Simone's off the antibiotics now and it's slowly leaving Simone's system as well as Hannah's - but it's been quite an awful thing to go through. It's especially distressing because when Hannah is crying, she looks just like Simone when she is upset (all other times I can't tell if Hannah looks like us at all!). As a father looking at my baby in pain and being unable to help - I can't remember feeling as powerless. The experience brought be back to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was praying in desperation to His Father - the perfect Father, from whom every Father in heaven and earth is named. If I as a Father feel rotten at the pain of my child, how much more the pain of God the Father, seeing His perfect Son, whom he has loved from eternity, earnestly praying to him in agony. None of the accounts communicate the Jesus' agony so much as Luke's version - which I'm especially interested in this year. Yet, as I looked at Luke's story, I noticed a detail which had never meant much to me before. God sends an angel to comfort and strengthen His Son as He is praying. I'd passed over it before, but now, seeing this detail from my limited experience as a Father, it speaks to me of great tenderness, kindness and love. Read it for yourself: He came out, and went, as his custom was, to the Mount of Olives. His disciples also followed him. When he was at the place, he said to them, “Pray that you don’t enter into temptation.” He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and he knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him. Being in agony he prayed more earnestly. His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground. When he rose up from his prayer, he came to the disciples, and found them sleeping because of grief, and said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=217 Post217 Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:28:22 EST To prepare for the Luke storytellings coming up - I've started to read a number of books on the life of Jesus. I started reading Jesus: A Short Life yesterday morning and finished late at night (with a break to watch the tennis). It is outstanding. Make sure you read it and loan/give it to friends and family. I think it will replace my standard give away book of A Spectators Guide to Jesus (which replaced Simply Christianity before that). I'm also listening to John Dickson's sermons which made up the chapters of 'A Spectator's Guide to Jesus' as well. They are available at the St Andrew's Roseville website (see down the bottom). http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=286 Post286 Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:15:54 EST In the new upcoming Luke storytelling - one of the exciting challenges is to preach Jesus' famous Sermon on the Mount/Plain. Therefore, I thought that I'd put forward my view of the Beatitudes, which is different from the main view I've heard pretty much all the time. I do this with hesitation because I am disagreeing with many commentators that I value and admire (e.g. Leon Morris, Luke; Don Carson, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount). I also do it with trepidation because so much ink has been spilled in discussing Jesus' words in this sermon and I'm sure that my view has been put forward by some and rejected by others numerous times. Nevertheless - this is what I think... In my experience, the normal understanding of the beatitudes is that they are list of godly virtues. I believe they function really as announcements of hope. Let's look at them: The first Beatitude: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matt. 5:3 Blessed are you who are poor, because yours is the Kingdom of God. Luke 6:20b Many see Matthew's phrase "poor in spirit" and equate it with an existential realisation of moral bankruptcy before God (often cited is Isaiah 66:2). I do believe that this is the kind of realisation that Jesus is after - see Jesus' parable about the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. But you really are pushing it to say that's what Luke's meaning is here. I take it that Luke's meaning is for those in literal material poverty. The meaning is crystalised in Luke's parallel 'Woe' to this Beatitude: But woe to you who are rich! Because you have received your comforting. Luke 6:24 Jesus really does have poor people and rich people in mind. He isn't necessarily distinguishing them morally (i.e. poor = good, rich = bad), but that his message of the Kingdom of God is a message of hope primarily received by the poor. His message is a message of comforting, but for those who live in comfort now, it is of little seeming relevance. Jesus says woe to them because they are short-changing themselves for eternity because the Kingdom of God is of far superior value. This isn't to say the rich don't enter (c.f. Zacchaeus) but that it is tragically the norm (e.g. the rich young ruler). This fits a theme in Luke where Jesus is 'preaching good news to the poor'. It's the poor, weak and the outcast for whom a fresh start and a new creation is a message to be taken hold of in both hands. For those with large amounts invested in the current world order, it is far too costly. This understanding fits with Matthew's version. "Poor in spirit" need not be a spiritual moral awareness but merely a brokenness. Jesus is saying, the Kingdom of Heaven is a promise, not to those who are strong and mighty, but to those who are broken and downtrodden. Similarly for Matthew's beatitude for the 'meek'. Many are quick to say that 'meekness' isn't 'weakness' because they see Jesus commending meekness as a virtue. Yet Jesus is just saying that the small and the insignificant people of this world are the ones to inherit the world in the future (drawing from Psalm 35:11). It's part of Jesus' "The first will be last and the last first" theme. Let's look at another one: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matt. 5:4 Blessed are you who cry now, because you will laugh. Luke 6:21b Again, those who 'mourn' is usually understood in moral categories. People are mourning in repentance for their sin. Again, I believe that it is a message of hope for the future blessings of the Kingdom of God. Those who mourn or cry aren't blessed because of their godly character - Jesus' words are words of assurance that a better world is coming. Again it's helpful to see Luke's corresponding woe: Woe to you who laugh now, because you will mourn and weep. Luke 6:25b Surely it isn't morally wrong to 'laugh now' - but it this world for you is so filled with joy that you ignore the hope of a better one, then that's the foolishness. Finally we'll look at a third one: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matt. 5:6 Blessed are you who hunger now, because you will be filled. Luke 6:21a It is simple here to take Matthew's "hunger and thirst for righteousness" as a reference to godly character (obviously it's harder for Luke's version) yet I think the same principle applies. Jesus is saying that what you are hungering for now (food presumably in Luke's case or righteousness in Matthew's) is the certain blessing to follow with the Kingdom of God. The sense is of assurance and promise, not of instruction. Other of Matthew's beatitudes similarly can be seen in moral terms ('merciful', 'pure in heart', 'peacemaker') and naturally they are to be regarded as virtues but Jesus is not merely commending them as such. He's announcing the future blessings of the Kingdom of God and give assurances of their promise to His people. I think this is important because Jesus' message is primarily about promise and blessing before it is about challenge. Jesus' words here are comfort and hope and it is important that they are heard in that way. http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=287 Post287 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 02:53:31 EST We aren't accustomed to reading the Bible stories as events that, if it weren't for time and distance, we could have been there to see it. At the beginning of our workshops we ask people to read a story each from Mark's Gospel as if they were actually there to witness it and then read it to a partner. Not only is the way they read it dramatically different - always people tell us that by doing that simple exercise they noticed small details in the stories that they'd never noticed before - even though it may have been fairly familiar to them. I had that experience yesterday about the Transfiguration story. I only noticed yesterday that the Transfiguration must have happened at night. This isn't immediately obvious at first and you cannot see it in Matthew or Mark's accounts - but if you look closely at Luke's version you can see it. The give away line in Luke's account is at the beginning of the next story which begins: "On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain..." Luke 9:37 Evidently, Jesus had taken Peter, John and James up the mountain to pray and they stayed there all night before they came down. This fits a pattern that Luke gives us of Jesus praying through the night (see Luke 5:16 and the Garden of Gethsemane in Luke 22:39-45) Another clue is that how Luke describes the disciples: "Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory..." Luke 9:32 Just like at the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus took his friends to pray through the night with him but they didn't have the stamina and they fell asleep. Why does this matter? It doesn't really - but read this description and visualise it as happening in the dark: "As he was praying, the appearance of his face was changed, and his clothing became bright like lightning." Luke 9:29 How much more spectacular is that! Just like lightning is far more impressive at night time - the sun wasn't visible to dilute Jesus' glory. Most of the classical works of art based on the transfiguration miss this detail about the story (even the famous 'Jesus Film') but here's a painting by Raphael that is pretty cool (see right). http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=288 Post288 Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:18:47 EST As part of our crash courses on Public Bible Reading, we begin by looking at a brief history of Public Bible Reading: On the edge of crossing to the promised land, Moses commanded that every seven years: "you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.  Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God..." (see Deuteronomy 31:9-13) Imagine a colossal nation-wide conference where the purpose simply was reading and hearing the words of the Bible. This practice is given the name Hakhel (the Hebrew word for 'Assemble') and has in part been reinitiated since the establishment of the modern state of Israel. Evidently this command was neglected because by King Josiah's day because midway through his reign (in the 620s BC) the Book of the Law was rediscovered and to their horror they realised their nation's disobedience to God's Word. Josiah sought to reestablish the covenant and brought all the people to the Temple and "he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD" (2 Kings 23:2). Here is the picture of the righteous King drawing the people back to God through the scriptures. Nevertheless, even Josiah's reforms didn't stop the people being sent into exile. At the return to the land, Ezra gathered the people together and for a whole week, "day by day from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God" (Nehemiah 8:18) The people were so moved to tears by the word of God that they had to be reassured and encouraged "to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them." (Nehemiah 8:12). By the time of Jesus, the weekly practice of reading the scriptures was well established and Jesus himself read at the Synagogue in Nazareth, which Luke indicates was his regular custom in ministry (Luke 4:16-30) This practice carried over into early Christian gatherings such that Paul encouraged Timothy: "devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, to teaching." (1 Timothy 4:13) In addition to the Old Testament scriptures, it was customary for the New Testament letters to be read aloud: "I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers." 1 Thessalonians 5:27 "And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea." Colossians 4:16 "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near." Revelation 1:3 In the next century after the New Testament, you can see this dedication of early Christians to the public reading of the Bible here by Justin Martyr: And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits. (First Apology 67) As you can see, for thousands of years - God's people have gathered to hear the Words of God read to them aloud and they have powerfully moved them to spiritual renewal. http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=289 Post289 Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:26:38 EST Here are some pointers that can improve Bible reading at church (in roughly increasing order of importance): Leave the section headings out. They are uninspiried and often unhelpful. Be confident and consistent with names and places. If you don't know how to pronounce the names, neither does the congregation. However you say them, just be confident with them. (Or ask the preacher/Hebrew expert etc.) Use an appropriate translation This could be the pew Bible translation or whatever the preacher is using. Help people find the passage Give the pew Bible page reference. Let people know the book of the Bible before or afterward. Work from a calm place. Take as much time as you need and don't rush. Always breathe before you speak. Print the passage out rather than reading it in your Bible. You can have a larger, clearer font; line-breaks at natural places to take a breath (such as punctuation points) and space to make notes. Try out our 'Script Typesetter' to do this. Pray before you read instead of after. Often our pattern is that the Bible reader will pray for the speaker after giving the reading. If you pray for God's help before the reading, it recognises that the Bible reading is part of the ministry of the Word and it puts the focus on us as hearers of God's Word rather than the speaker. Don't try to impress anyone If that's your goal, Jesus may say that you've received your reward already.    http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=290 Post290 Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:17:54 EST The Bible Reading is certainly the most neglected aspect of our church meetings. Our readers may receive no guidance, no training, and (sometimes) no warning as we ask them to do the reading 5 minutes before the service starts. We as the congregation don't expect to be spiritually nourished by the Bible reading and neither does the reader. It functions simply as a necessary introduction to the sermon. The good news is however, this means that with little effort, our Bible readings can be vastly better and greatly add to people's experience of God's Word. Not only is there less work to do in the sermon after a good reading, the preacher can focus on bringing home the application of the passage to a people already impacted by God's Word. It's the low-hanging fruit of improving our church meetings. There are many tips about Bible Reading that can be helpful but here are three elements that I believe are essential to making Bible reading better. Conviction about the Scriptures in general The Bible isn't like any other book. This may go without saying, yet judging by how we read the Bible at church, I think we need a reminder for this context: God's words are true. They stand apart from human ideologies which lead to sin, error and enslavement. By reading them we are speaking truth to our audience which is liberating and life-changing. God's words are powerful. They always achieve their purpose. God will use them for his glory as He has me speak them to His people. God's words are spiritual. The Bible is written by human authors as well as by God’s Spirit. The Spirit will be working in people's hearts as God's words are read. God's words are contemporary. The Bible is an ancient document, yet is living and active and through it God will still address directly the people in my congregation. God's words are (generally) address to communities. Reading out the Bible to congregations of believers is exactly how the Bible was designed to be used. Imagine the difference it would make to earnestly understand these truths about the Bible as you begin to read from it at the lectern. Next time, before you read the scriptures aloud - remind yourself of these points (and other things you understand about the Bible) and see the difference it makes. Conviction about the passage in particular Before you wish the congregation to be moved by a passage, it must affect you first. When you connect with the passage, others will too. This takes hard work and time. Here are some suggestions: You need to study the passage carefully and understand it. Track the emotional journey, appreciate it's logic, apply it to your own life. Pray through the passage, thanking him for what you've learned and asking that He is honoured as people hear it. See yourself in the shoes of the human author of the passage. The passage was written because the author couldn't be present to convey these words personally - that is now up to us.  If the author wanted to encourage the hearers with these words, then you have the opportunity of encouraging them in your reading. If the author was warning people, it is your task to warn people in your reading. Imagine the difference there would be if everyone who heard this was able to take this passage completely to heart.  Then, once you are convinced that the particular passage is essential for your congregation to hear, understand and apply to their lives, are you ready to read. Practise, practise, practise Reading aloud is a skill that comes with practice. You will need to read through the particular passage many times before you can do it clearly and expressing the meaning of the passage. The first step is to print it out yourself. Then you can have the text in a large clear font and with the line breaks at natural places to take a breath (such as punctuation points). Meaning can be radically changed through emphasis. Ask yourself - is the way you're reading give full weight to meaning of the passage you discovered in you study of it? Don't read it silently in preparation - read it aloud as much as you can, and with people listening to you. Ask them what impacted them from the passage as you read it. Don't be afraid to experiment with saying things in a different ways. As readers, you are the emotional guide to your hearers. They will naturally pick up the emotional journey of the passage through your voice. If something is sad, astounding, profound or whatever - then let that come through your voice. This is all hard work, but in doing so you are genuinely serving people and soaking yourself in God's Word can only be good for you! May God help His people be devoted to the public reading of His powerful Word. http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=291 Post291 Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:51:15 EST I remember sitting at a gravel carpark on a Friday in July, 2001 reading the book of Colossians on my tiny pocket NASB Bible and being blown away. I decided that it was then my favorite part of the Bible (and has continued to be so) and it has been the part of the Bible I've gone through most when studying the Bible with others (except possibly for doing Luke with people through Simply Christianity). One of the parts of Colossians that stood out to me that day was chapter 1 verses 15 to 20. Colossians came up in my Bible reading this morning and I thought I'd write a little about it's structure here. I'd recently come across the idea of a chiasm in the structure of parts of the Bible and I was convinced that I'd found one here. After closer examination over the next few weeks I decided that I was just imagining it. In 2002, I did a year of Ancient Greek. After trying to read the passage in it's original language in preparation for a talk on the passage, I thought I'd seen a different kind of structure in the text that isn't obvious in the English translations I'd seen.  Here is my extremely literal translation of the passage. (Please take in mind that I have only done one year of Greek and I'm no authority on anything.) 15    who is image of the invisible God,         firstborn of all creation, 16    because in him were created all things in the heavens and on the earth         the visible things and the invisible         whether thrones whether lordships whether rulers whether authorities         all things through him and towards him have been created 17    and he is before all things and all things in him have been held together 18    and he is the head of the body the church 19    who is beginning,         firstborn out of the dead,         in order that he hold the first place in everything,         because in him was pleased all the fullness to dwell 20    and through him to reconcile all things towards him         having made peace through the blood of the cross of him         whether the things on the earth whether the things in the heavens As you can see there are common elements in the two big paragraphs: who is firstborn because in him whether (list) all things through him  towards him You could summarise that the first paragraph is speaking of Jesus' first place in creation and the second parallel paragraph is speaking of Jesus' first place in new creation. There is no one in this creation more significant than the one through whom and for whom it exists. There's no one more significant in the new creation to come than the one through whom and for whom everything was reconciled - through his death and resurrection. The line that breaks the symmetry is 19c: "in order that he hold the first place in everything." which ultimately sums up everything in the passage. I can only guess how this passage came together. I've heard a number of times that people suggest that it was an early Christian song but I think there's no reason Paul could not have composed it spontaneously as he dictated the letter (or that he'd written it previously as a poem). It could also have been a common Christian saying, teaching device or creed (which I guess to be quite likely). Or even a mixture in that Paul might be drawing from a creed or song and adapted it. This may explain why the symmetry isn't as precise as might be expected, the break in verse 19c (as if Paul broke out of the formulation to comment on the central idea) and also that it fits seamlessly into the rest of Colossians 1. However it was composed, it remains a timeless and extraordinary insight into the nature of Jesus - the one who hold first place in everything. http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=301 Post301 Mon, 04 May 2009 14:29:05 EST We've decided to simplify our workshop training session. Previously, it was structured like a shorter version of the One-Day Crash Course and it always felt rushed. Hopefully this new format will mean that people will get an even better taste of Biblical Storytelling and more likely to be able to give it go for themselves at the end. After giving an introduction about The Backyard Bard as a group, doing an example storytelling and discussing the value of stories in the Bible - the workshop is divided into two halves: "Connecting" and Communicating". These two ideas summarise they way we think about the Biblical Storytelling. Connecting with the story Our fundamental idea is that you first need to connect with a passage in the Bible yourself before you can communicate it in a meaningful way to others. You could try to memorise a passage of the Bible and recite it to an audience - but if it hasn't moved you and made a deep connection in your heart, then you're more likely to put people to sleep than give them an experience of God's living Word. We do three activities in this section. Everyone is given a story from Mark's Gospel and then do three activities to explore the story from three angles. They are to see that it is a story about a Real Event, about Real People and about a Real God. Real Event Everyone has a partner read to them their story from Mark as they imagine that they were there to see it with their own eyes. I encourage them to close their eyes and visualise the events and to experience the story as an eyewitness would of. We feel distant to the Bible stories because they happened so long ago and in a far away place. We need to bridge that gap ourselves before we ask our audience to. If you had actually seen Jesus calming the storm yourself, you'd never be able to retell the story in the monotone that we sometimes use in church Bible readings! Often when people do this exercise - they will pick up aspects of the stories they'd never noticed before. Real People The next activity is to discuss the characters in the stories with your partner. This involves talking about who they are, why they do what they do and why they say what they say. What emotions are they feeling? How does what happen in the story affect them? Try to see the story from each of their perspectives. These stories are filled with amazing characters with complex motivations whose lives were changed by these events. It's extremely important to relate to the story from their level. Real God One of the great things about the stories in the Bible is that they demonstrate for us God in action. At this stage in the workshop, I ask people to shut their eyes as I ask them three questions and give them time to reflect on them: What would be missing from our understanding of God and Jesus if this story were not written down? How could my life be different if I honestly whole-heartedly understood and believed this truth about God? Can I imagine someone whose life could be changed by the truth about God in this story? When we do storytelling from the Bible, we are introducing people to the living God. We need to communicate it in a way that reflects this truth. Communicating the story Once we've connected with the story ourselves, we'll naturally want to communicate it as best we can. Stories are told in different ways in different contexts and cultures. It's still Biblical Storytelling even if you aren't doing it in the Backyard Bard's style of storytelling. In general, a storyteller has three tools in the toolbox: voice, body, space - in that order of importance. Voice Your voice is the most important tool. It may be the only tool you can use (for example: if you are storytelling over the radio). With your voice, you are an emotional guide to your hearers. You can communicate so much of the various aspects of the story and the characters merely in the way you say it. The most important element here is experimentation. Say the passage in as many different ways - each time will communicate truths about the passage in different ways. In the workshop, I only have time for people to read the story once to a new partner. The exercise is to read it as if you were there and you saw it with your own eyes (similar to the first exercise in the previous section). Body Your body is a powerful tool to engage people with the visuals of the story. With your body, you can gesture, mime, act out and even portray different characters. In the workshop, I get people to tell the story from a chair, using gestures to indicate all the action in the story. I encourage people to think of the conductor of an orchestra or even the Sorcerer's Apprentice from Fantasia, as you create an imaginary world with your hands - characters coming and going, as well as vast crowds and small mustard seeds. Space Using space, a storytelling can create an imaginary world on stage. The trick always is to visualise it yourself first. The general rule is - when you see it, others see it too. To explore that idea there's an exercise where you get to be an Bible Imagination Tourist. In the each story, there will be landmarks, locations, textures, smells. People go through their stories line-by-line and exploring all the visuals of the story around them. Does your story speak about the Temple? Imagine walking through the gates of the temple - what does it look like? how high is it? what is the colour of the stones? etc. The more precise and intricate the imaginary world you explore the better. That's all the time that we have for the workshop. At this stage there's usually only a few minutes for people to practice telling their stories and hopefully there's time for a volunteer to tell one to the group. It's a only a very brief introduction to Biblical Storytelling but I hope that it's enough to whet people's appetite. After all, Biblical Storytelling is really quite easy - anyone can give it a go. Why not go through the workshop above and give it a go yourself (even better - book us in for one of these workshops at your church;) ) http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=303 Post303 Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:00:33 EST Last week, I gave a storytelling of Ruth at Wodonga Baptist. At the end of it, I gave a short talk on the three main characters. Here's the audio - media.wodongabaptist.org.au/audio/2009/Services/WDBC%2021%20June%202009%20AM%20Backyard%20Bard%20-%20Book%20of%20Ruth.mp3 Here's the text: I was asked to give talk on the book or Ruth as well this morning.  We only have a very short time available so I thought the best way would be to make some brief observations on the three characters.  Ruth, Boaz and Naomi.   What do we learn from the character of Ruth. Naturally she's the character to be greatly admired. She is obviously a woman of vast kindness and fierce loyalty. She has initiative - when Naomi had lost hope,  Ruth had the drive to pull things together to make sure they had food. She is a woman of impressive industry and work-ethic as the forman of Boaz' harvesters saw. She is a woman of humility - she doesn't presume on Boaz' kindness and generosity. She's an amazing woman. Jewish Bible's of about a 1000 years ago used to have the book of Ruth  directly after the book of Proverbs  which meant that you read Proverbs 31 about the woman of noble character  and then you read the book of Ruth where Boaz uses the same phrase about Ruth. She's surely a great woman to admire and emulate but of course she's even more than that. She's a living example of the promise that God gave to Abraham in Genesis 12 -  the people's of the world would find blessing through his descendants. Ruth was a foreigner, a widow, she was destitute  and she attached herself to God's people and to God himself. Like Boaz said she'd come under God's wings to take refuge. Like a mother bird protecting her children and keeping them close. That's like us isn't it. Nearly all of us here would be foreigners to God's covenant people Israel. Yet, like Ruth, we've thrown ourselves on God's mercy and kindness - we could never presume on God's mercy just as Ruth couldn't. But because of the overflowing kindness of God,  we have received blessing as we've found refuge in God's protective wings.  God's promise to Abraham saw it's fulfillment in Ruth's great great descendant Jesus. His death and resurrection mean that people from every nation  can come and find blessing in the God of Israel. If you here today haven't yet done that - thrown yourself on God for mercy, please come today and do it.  He's good and loving as you have seen in this story. He'll welcome you with open arms as he did for Ruth. Take refuge under the loving wings of God.   Secondly - what do we learn from Boaz. Again he's a wonderful man to look up to isn't he. His very name means something like - 'man of strength' He's a man whose life was centred on God. I think that's the reason why our storyteller who wrote the book of Ruth introduced him as he did. For some reason, how Boaz greets his harvesters is recorded for us. 'Yahweh be with you' you he says. Our storyteller wants us to see that Boaz is a man who is on about God. You see it in Boaz's overwhelming generosity to Ruth and Naomi. You see it with the way he treats Ruth with purity on the threshing floor. Boaz is an excellent example of godly biblical masculinity. Guys - do you think you would have done what he did at the threshing floor? That was strength - that was the godly and manly thing to do wasn't it. He's strong but he's selfless. He treats women with honour and respect and gentleness. But again Boaz is more than just an godly example. In the story, he is the vehicle of God's kindness as well. That's the way Naomi saw it didn't she. When Ruth came home that first day with all that grain - who did she thank? God. This is a great story because even though there aren't miracles and all that -  God's hand is unmistakable. And Boaz in this story was the character that God used to bring about his blessing. Boaz' generosity was God's generosity. Do you want to now what the God of the universe is like? Look at the tender mercy He showed these women through Boaz. Boaz, as the redeemer in this story is a picture for us of God as our Redeemer God, like Boaz, rescues us out of devestation and shows us compassion & mercy. Ultimately Boaz is picture of Jesus, Boaz' great great descendant, who would die for our redemption so we could like with him in freedom forever.   Finally, let me mention Naomi. She gets a hard time from people today - especially preachers. But I haven't suffered anywhere near what she suffered so, personally, I'm going to hold off on criticism. Her emotions are so raw and real. Her despair is raw and honest. That's real life. Life is hard and downright awful and horrendous sometimes - it especially was for her. It may be for you today.  You might not have lost your husband and children - but you may be suffering the same. What does Naomi's suffering show us? That even when we are despairing, even when we've lost all hope,  even when we feel like God is dealing very bitterly towards us, if we are God's family - God is working for good and glory. Through Naomi's ordeal,  God not only purposed Ruth's salvation, gave her a new family and grandson but also brought about the coming of King David and ultimately Jesus Christ himself. If we saw the end from the beginning like God does,  it would make sense but of course we can't - at least for our own stories. But we can for Naomi's story can't we. And we see that God is good. So for you going through suffering at the moment. Listen to Naomi's words, after her eyes were opened to God's goodness through Boaz' generosity. Yahweh has not stopped showing kindness to the living and the dead. Even if it doesn't look like it - God is working for good. Read the stories of the Bible - time and time again we see this truth. read the story of how God worked good  through the ultimate suffering of Jesus Christ through the cross. We cannot see the end of our stories but that's why we have the stories in the Bible  so we can see what God is truly like and trust him in our own lives.   I'll pray now for us to finish.    God, thank you that you are so kind to us. Thank you that, like Ruth, we can come under your wings to take refuge. Thank you that you have shown us generosity and love and kindness through giving us Jesus. Please God help us to get through tough times now and even though it may be hard to see your goodness in our circumstances - please open our eyes to see you as worthy of our trust and that you'll be with us, working for our good as we pull through. In Jesus' Name. Amen http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=304 Post304 Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:06:15 EST At this year's CMS Summer Under the Son conference, I did a storytelling of Mission of Paul 3 for the youth and young adults and then we had a brief discussion. Here's what came up: The Content of Mission Here are some of the ways that Luke describes the content of what was preached: The Way of God/the Lord - Acts 18:25, 18:26 From the scriptures that the Messiah was Jesus - Acts 18:28 The Kingdom of God - Acts 19:8, 20:25 NB Luke obviously didn't consider Paul's message to be different in substance to Jesus' own message of the Kingdom. The word of the Lord - Acts 19:10, 19:20 Gods made with hands are not gods - 19:26 Anything that was profitable - Acts 20:20 Repentance toward God & faith in our Lord Jesus - Acts 20:21 Gospel of the grace of God - Acts 20:24 The whole council of God - Acts 20:27 Word of His grace - Acts 20:32 What strikes me is the number of different descriptions that Luke gives. I take it that these are all ways to speak of different aspects of the same message. The Gospel is multifaceted yet entirely Jesus centred. Our message to the world must be the same. We must present the Gospel about Jesus in all its various dimensions whilst never departing from what is central. The Modes of Mission Here are some of the modes of ministry that Luke gives: Synagogue preaching - Acts 18:26, 19:8 Public refutation - Acts 18:28 Reasoning & Persuading - Acts 19:8 Reasoning daily in the Hall of Tyrannus - Acts 19:9  Exorcism/Healing - Acts 19:11-12 Public displays of repentance - Acts 19:18-19 In public and also house to house - Acts 20:20 Night and day - Act 20:31 Personal Example - Acts 20:33-35 Letter writing (not mentioned in Acts, but during this time he wrote 1 & 2 Corinthians and Romans) Financial aid for saints in Jerusalem (see 2 Corinthians & Romans) Again Gospel ministry is multifaceted. The thing that strikes me is Paul's ability to adapt. When opposition meant that he left the synagogue and set up in a lecture hall/school and as a result the whole of the province heard the Gospel. It's similar to what happened in Corinth on Paul's 2nd journey - where he was forced out of the synagogue so he set up next door! (Acts 18:5-8). Paul adapted and used opportunities as they presented themselves. I think is still necessary in the modern world: a vast variety of modes of ministry with people thinking creatively and people prepared to adapt and improvise. Many of the modes of ministry that will reach Australia and the world in the 21st century yet may not have been thought of yet. Opposition, like in Paul's case, might necessitate it, and at least, it will involve more risk-taking and experimentation than what we possibly expect. The Character of Mission Here are descriptions of how Apollos and Paul undertook their ministries: Boldly - Acts 18:26, 19:8 Powerfully - Acts 18:28 From the scriptures - Acts 18:28 Multi-cultural - Acts 19:10, 19:17, 20:21 Encouraging - Acts 20:2 Humility, tears, trials - Acts 20:19 Unshrinking - Acts 20:20, 20:27 Self-sacrificing - Acts 20:24 Generous/Hard working - Acts 20:33-35 Warm/loving - Acts 20:26-27 The ministries were characterised by godliness and empowered by God. The Hardships of Mission Here is a list of hardships and opposition faced during this 3rd missionary journey: Stubbornness and Public maligning - Acts 19:9 Insincere copycats? - Acts 19:13-17 Riot spurred by floundering idol makers - Acts 19:24-41 Plots of the Jews - Acts 20:3, 20:19 Imprisonment and affliction ahead - Acts 20:23 Fierce wolves in Christian leadership - Acts 20:30 Ministry was hard but through it Paul carried on with courage and conviction. Facing imprisonment and suffering he said: But I don't count my life as valuable to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:24 It's a fearlessness that comes from resting in the plan and over-arching reign of God. I could easily imagine first-century Christians considering the life of Paul as incredibly valuable and must be protected at all costs. But Paul knew that God was in control, not Rome, so he could entrust him to the task that the sovereign Lord Jesus gave him. It's that kind of fearlessness and conviction that will accompany the growth of the Gospel in the 21st century. One final note about the opposition to Paul's ministry and the way it reflects on the character of what he did. The results of Paul's ministry changed society. The idols trade was damaged as well as a public renouncement of sorcery by many new believers. Yet this change in society was entirely a grass-roots movement, arising from the preaching of the Gospel and the power of the Spirit. I'd suggest that this is the central way that Christianity affects society. In a democracy like ours, it is entirely appropriate for Christians to have their voice in the public arena when it comes to government policy but ultimately Christianity will affect our society not through law but through changed hearts. The central goal of the anti-abortion movement in Christianity should not be through legislation but through bankrupting the abortion industry (like the Ephesian idol makers) because so many women choose to have their children because of the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ. http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=305 Post305 Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:27:29 EST Here's the text of a short talk that I gave on Jonah last year. For more talks on Jonah - listen to Stu White's here: www.monash.cu.org.au/OnlineTalks.php God and action G’day everyone, my name is Rob. I’m a Biblical Storyteller with the Christian theatre company called The Backyard Bard.  It’s my job to going around to different places, churches, schools and universities, telling people the stories in the Bible. I’m going to share with you the story of Jonah from the Old Testament but before I do,  I just want to share with you why I do what I do.    All of us believe certain things about God.  For some things we may be able to point to part of the Bible that state this truth about God. And it’s really in the stories in the Bible that we get to see God in action.  It’s in the stories that we see these truths about God shown to us and demonstrated for us. As I tell you this story,  I hope you see many different aspects about God demonstrated this fantastic book.   Before I start, I just need to explain.  The story refers to ‘Tarsish’. Tarshish is a distant country, most likely in modern day Spain. Ninevah is the capital of the super-power of the time, Assyria.  A blood-thirsty and oppressive regime.  I will be using ‘Yahweh’ as the name for God. Yahweh is the name of God revealed in the Bible,  usually translated LORD in capital letters.    Here we go:   Do Jonah Storytelling God the creator Well from that story you see a marvelous list of truths about God. I’m going to talk about two aspects about God from this story,  the first is that he is the universal creator.  That’s best expressed in the story through Jonah’s words to the sailors in chapter 1 verse 9:   “I am a Hebrew and I fear Yahweh, God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”   But even though Jonah knew the right words, he surely didn’t understand them.  The sailors understood these words better than Jonah.  ‘What have you done they ask? What have you done?’ Good question.    How did Jonah think he was going to get away with it?  Did he think that God didn’t see him traveling across the sea? God made the Sea Jonah.  Do you think God won’t be able to find you in Tarshish?  God made Tarshish Jonah.   Jonah could recite the correct creed about God but he either consciously or sub-consiously chose to ignore it. He, in his foolhardy way, tested the limits of God over his creation and found God to be unescapable.   The whole of the book of Jonah points us to the fact of God being the universal creator doesn’t it.   We see God’s power and control over his creation  through his appointment of certain things in the story don’t we.  Did you hear that repeated phrase in the story.  God appointed a vine,  God appointed a great fish,  God appointed a worm,  God appointed a scorching east wind.  God, marshaling his creation to achieve his desires.  The whole of this universe serves at the pleasure of the God who made it.   So what, what does this mean for us that God is the creator.    It has to mean, doesn’t it, that you can’t run away from him. It has to mean that.  Have you ever thought of yourself running away from God, Yahweh, the God of the Bible? I think that we sometimes do? I think we easily fall into this trap of thinking about God in this way. And it’s just ridiculous!   Be it the Christian who thinks he can act on a Sunday in one fashion  and the rest of the week in another. Do you think God doesn’t see you throughout the rest of the week?   Or the person who acts all godly on the outside but on the inside is selfishness and greed. Do you believe that God only sees the exterior?    Be it the post-modern person who believes that the Christian God is merely that: the God of the Christians, And  if you were to go to a Buddhist culture, a Muslim culture, a Hindu culture, that the Christian God would somehow is absent or irrelevant. No the God of the Bible, the universal creator God, that God is the just as much the God over Saudi Arabia, as he is the God over India, China, and even over Australia. You could even travel to a distant galaxy, land on a distant planet and you haven’t escaped the extent of God’s domain.   You might be someone thinking about giving up on this whole Christian caper, it’s all too hard. Maybe if you just ignore God, stop coming to church, stop reading the Bible, you can forget the whole thing.  Don’t do it! Jonah’s already tried it.  You cannot run-away from God.  It’s folly, it’s ridiculous, it’s nonsense.    Have you clearly grasped that there is no place where the presence of God isn’t.  There is no part of creation or even your life over which God doesn’t rightfully claim is his.  Have you clearly grasped that there is no place where the presence of God isn’t.   That is the God revealed to us in Jonah the universal creator. God the merciful The other thing that I want to notice about God in this story is his incredible mercy.  Again this aspect of God is expressed best in Jonah’s words from chapter 4 verse 2:   “This us why I made haste to run to Tarshish,  because I knew you were a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster.”   Jonah knew that right words, in fact he knew his Bible.  As you may be aware, Jonah’s description of God here is straight from God’s own description about himself to Moses in the famous story in Exodus 34.   But Jonah, instead of marveling about God and giving him glory for it.  He uses this description to accuse God, to revile God, as if God were evil in showing mercy.  What’s going on here?   We may need for a moment try to give Jonah a bit of slack and see where he’s coming from.  What was it about Ninevah that Jonah so hated that he despaired to see God show mercy to them? From our archeologists and historians, we can know quite a lot about the ancient Assyrians.  I did a small amount of reading this week about the practices of the Assyrians and it was horrendous, absolutely horrendous.  In the archeological records written by the Assyrians themselves, they boast of they way they would torture their enemies.  I won’t go into the details here but if you are in any doubt about the wickedness of the people of Ninevah,  then open up the book of Nahum in the Old Testament which is a prophecy against the city of Ninevah and see what God says about it. “Woe to the bloody city”, God says to Ninevah,  “the bloody city, full of lies and plunder.” Nahum chapter 3 verse 1.   How could show mercy to such a city?  Surely if God was righteous at all, he should judge such a city.  Simply out of love and compassion on all those murdered and tortured under that regime.  How on earth could God show mercy to them? That’s Jonah’s question.   And surely he’s got a point.  How can God be a God of justice if he let’s evil slide?  Do you see the scandal of God’s extravagant mercy? Surely Jonah is right.   But Jonah is forgetting a very important thing.  God’s mercy is the only reason why he isn’t drowned at the bottom of the ocean, isn’t it? It was God’s great mercy to Jonah that sent the great fish to save him and bring him to dry land.  Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the fish is a beautiful testament to that mercy.  Did you hear Jonah’s gratitude in his prayer.  "Yahweh, you are a God of salvation" prayed Jonah.  But then after receiving life from the extravagant mercy of God, Jonah reviles the mercy that God shows to Nineveh.   That’s the same with all Christian Judgementalism isn’t it.  Don’t get me wrong, Christians need to call sin, sin.  But when Christians forget that the only reason we stand as forgiven  and in relationship with God is because of God’s sheer mercy,  it turns into ugly self-righteousness and judgementalism.  Who of us can stand before a holy God unless we throw ourselves on undeserved mercy. Don’t be so arrogant that you think you can stand in your own goodness before God. You don’t know who you are dealing with.  Jonah despised the mercy of God, the same mercy of God which granted him his very own life.   But the question must be asked: why did God show mercy to this city?  We hear it in God’s words to Jonah at the end of the story.  It was because God created them, he sustained them. Jonah pitied the plant which he didn’t make,  why shouldn’t God pity those 120000 persons in that great city whom he created and gives breath to every moment. It’s out of love for his creation which is the basis for God’s astounding mercy in this story.    But how can God show mercy?  That is really left unanswered in the story.  Can God seemingly let the evil of the Ninevah slide simply because they turn and repent?    But that question is the same for all of us.  How can any of us as corrupt and evil people stand in God’s mercy,  while God still being a God of Justice?   The answer is really only finally resolved in the New Testament when we get to Jesus. How does God show mercy?  The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He himself paid for the price of that mercy in his own blood.  You see, God doesn’t let evil slide,  he comes and dies on the cross to take the punishment that the Ninevites deserved,  and what you deserve and what I deserve so the mercy he offers us can be possible.   Have you accepted the loving offer of God’s mercy in Jesus Christ?  Have you yet thrown yourself on the mercy of God?  Jesus died so that you could.  He rose from the dead after 3 days victorious over sin and death and offers you to come and join him for eternity.  Come to God - the loving creator and God - the who is rich in mercy.   http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=307 Post307 Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:51:41 EST Last Sunday, I ran a 2 hour workshop on Public Bible Reading at Donvale Presbyterian Church. For it, I restructured the Bible Reading workshop from last year. I was very happy with the result. Here's how it ran. Feel free to look through these notes to use with your own community - or invite us to come and run a workshop or one-day crash course. Welcome Question: What bad experiences have you had with Bible readings at church? Examples of responses: the reader stumbled over names and places simply dull or boring person emphasised wrong words and obsured the meaning the Bible reader only invited to read 5 minutes before the service (extremely common scenario!) Question: What good experiences have you had with Bible readings at church? Examples of responses: (people find this question far more difficult!) the read had obviously practiced the passage beforehand the sermon was easy to listen to because the congregation had understood the passage in the reading. The Bible Reading is certainly the most neglected aspect of our church meetings. Our readers may receive no guidance, no training, and (sometimes) no warning as we ask them to do the reading 5 minutes before the service starts.  We as the congregation don't expect to be spiritually nourished by the Bible reading and neither does the reader. It functions simply as a necessary introduction to the sermon.  The good news is however, this means that with little effort, our Bible readings can be vastly better and greatly add to people's experience of God's Word.  Not only is there less work to do in the sermon after a good reading, the preacher can focus on bringing home the application of the passage to a people already impacted by God's Word.  It's the low-hanging fruit of improving our church meetings.   I’ve got here 3 central elements to make our Bible readings better. Conviction -  What you believe about the Bible affects the way you read it. Connection - When you connect with the passage, others will too Communication - Practice practice practice Conviction If I have time, I briefly mention the 'Brief History of Public Bible Reading' through pointing out posters of Bible characters with quotes (see my previous blog post for more information). Question: What are some true things we can say about the Bible? Invariably, you can encourage the following answers: God's words are 'True' They stand apart from human words and ideologies which are false, lies and lead enslavement. By reading them we are speaking truth to our congregation that is liberating and life changing. Examples: John 8:31-32 - Jesus' words are truth which set us free. Proverbs 30:5: "Every word of God proves true" God's words are 'Powerful' They always achieve their purpose. God will use them for his glory as He has me speak them to His people. Isaiah 55:10-11 - "my word... shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." 2 Timothy 3:16-17 - All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. God's words are 'Spiritual' The Bible is written by human authors as well as by God’s Spirit. The Spirit will be working in people's hearts as God's words are read. 2 Peter 1:19-21 - "...men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." God's words are 'Contemporary' The Bible is an ancient document, yet is living and active and through it God will still address directly the people in my congregation. Romans 15:4 - "For whatever was written in former days was written for our(B) instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. God's words are (generally) address to communities. Reading out the Bible to congregations of believers is exactly how the Bible was designed to be used. When read in public, the Bible is in its natural element. To illustrate this point, I have a laminated poster with all the names of the New Testament books on it. I then ask the group to circle all the books which were addressed to communities rather than individuals. The point is then self-evident. Believing all this and taking it to heart makes a huge different when reading the Bible aloud. I then get the group to say this phrase with me and suggest they say it to themselves  (or something like it) the next time that they read the Bible in church: I am speaking the trueand powerful words of God. Through them, God will speak to this audience. God’s Spirit will work as these words are heard. Connection As well as having conviction about the Scriptures in general, we must have conviction about the passage you are reading in particular. In this section of the workshop, people are given passages from 'Ephesians' and we run through 3 exercises: 1. Head - Connecting through our understanding We must first understand the passage otherwise we will communicate our misunderstanding. I get people to pair up and with their partners they discuss these three things: Break it up into sections and give each section a name. What is the Big Idea of the whole passage. How does each section contribute to this Big Idea? 2. Heart - Connecting through our emotions I ask people to shut their eyes and imagine as if they were members of the Ephesian church in the first century and Paul had written this letter directly to them. Then the partner reads the words to them and they write down on the side of the page the things the passage made them feel. 3. Hands - Connecting through application I ask people to again shut their eyes and I ask these three questions: Imagine what would be different in your life if you truly took to heart what was written in this passage. Imagine what would different about your church if everyone took to heart what as written in this passage. Can you imagine someone whose life could be changed by what is written here. People then pray together for these life-changing words in their pairs and after this we have a short break. Communication From this point on in the workshop, nobody is aloud to read the passage silently in their heads. Again this part of the workshop is divided into 3 exercises. 1. Emphasis People gauge how to understand a speaker, not merely by the words but also how they are said (arguably even more the latter). By emphasising the right words we can greatly help people to follow the original author's thought but by make poor choices by emphasising words in an unhelpful way, we may obscure, confuse or even change the meaning. I use Clifford Warne's example statement: "I should tell him" emphasising the underlined words: I should tell him. (as opposed to anyone else telling him) I should tell him. (but I probably wont) I should tell him. (this is what I should  I should tell him. (as opposed to telling someone else) I should tell him? (He should tell me!) We work out which word to emphasise from the meaning of the passage. Exercise: Go through the passage saying each sentence aloud and then pausing to underline which words that should be emphasised in that sentence. 2. Dimensions of Voice There are three things we may vary with our voice: Volume, Pitch and Pace. Exercise: Read the passage several times, each time focusing on a particular dimension: Loud (but don't shout) Quiet  (make make sure you still project so you may be heard) Slow Fast (but make sure that you articulate every word and don't run them into each other) High Low In each reading there may be parts which work well in one or a combination of these. Mark them down on the text. NB. If we don't have time, people only do the first 3. 3. The Author's Purpose Question: Why did Paul write letters? Part of the answer is that it was because he couldn't be there in person. He intended it to be read aloud to the congregation to say what he wanted to say. The writing of the letter is half the communication. Reading is is the second half. When we read the passage - we need to give respect to the original author. How would he have said these words if he could? What did he want to achieve with these words? Did he want to encourage them? If so, then he hoped that as they heard the words that they were encouraged. Therefore it’s your job as the reader to encourage the people with those words. Did Paul want to give them a warning. Then it’s your job to warn them. Think of what you think Paul is wanting to do in this passage of Ephesians and write it on the top of the sheet. Find a person in the room and read it to them to achieve what Paul wanted you to achieve. At the end - ask them to guess what you’d written down. The final part of the 'Communication' element of the workshop is to go through the tips for Bible reading from this post. Conclusion Now people are given time (at least 5-10 minutes) to prepare the reading of the passage aloud and we finish by having someone read theirs to the group. It's very important that workshop participants are able to use the skills they worked on from the workshop in the next month or two after the session otherwise what they have learned will be forgotten. I hope this is helpful for some people. Send me a message if it was helpful for you. http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=310 Post310 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:52:56 EST We are always greatly encouraged when churches do a fantastic job of hosting a Backyard Bard storytelling. I thought that I would list a few of the elements which go towards making a great event. There are so many that have run outstanding events, but I'll focus on one in particular as a case study, Luke at  All Saints Oatley West on May 9th this year. Enthusiasm The rector Dr. Stephen Anderson, contacted me in January about coming later in the year and from that and future correspondence, it was clear that they were enthusiastic about it as an event. This is the fundamental principle which makes or breaks a Backyard Bard event. If the group hosting the event is excited about it then the details will fall into place and it will be fantastic. The opposite extreme is for a church to merely think they are doing us a favour by loaning us the use of their facilities (I'm glad to say that's rarely if ever been my experience). We see ourselves as working in partnership with churches and Christian groups. We provide the content which the church can use as a major event on it's calendar as part of its overall strategy. Point person & Team On the lead up to the storytelling, a member of the church named Katie made contact with me. She was the head of a team of church people to organise the event. We were in good communication before and after the event and made organising all the details a delight. For me this was ideal. Often the minister of a church doesn't have the freedom to dedicate the time to organising the event that it needs and so giving the responsibility to a team of people in the congregation whose job it was to make it a great night works perfectly. Promotional Material Katie was in touch with me early about promotional material. This particular church decided to download the graphics from the website and print postcards themselves with information about their particular event on the back. This is precisely why we have everything available on our website for you to use as you see best. They invited newcomers The whole church got behind the event and invited their friends and family. One lady brought 6-7 friends along. This is what Dr Anderson said in a follow-up article on the Sydney Anglican website: "Locals weren’t put off by the Jesus focus of the event, and even if they didn’t come, good conversations arose from the invitations." "Tactically, our primary rationale for staging events through this year is to give people new things to talk about as we forge new connections" "Some commented that this was the easiest invitation to a church event they’d ever extended – and the event itself was equally non-threatening.” The Setup of the Venue was Fantastic They set up the hall of the church with tables so that it had a cafe feel. The tables looked beautiful with candles and even the lead up to the church was lit with candles. They provided a wonderful supper at the interval and it seemed like a pleasant and inviting environment. They had a team of helpers there early to set up. They provided lighting (because I didn't bring mine with me on the plane trip) and they used black material to give the hall a theatrical feel. On the tables were conversation starter cards with quotes from Napoleon, Billy Connolly, Gorbachev, Gandhi and others, on who they thought Jesus was, which was an excellent touch. As a result people felt comfortable to sit around the tables and chat for about an hour after the show. All this came from careful thought and a team of able people who wanted it to be the best night it could be. They took care of me! This may seem like a selfish thing to speak about, but performing is an incredibly tough physical activity and the quality of the performance depends dramatically on how the storyteller feels. They picked me up form the airport and took me early to the church so that I was comfortable with the performing space. They provided me dinner (very important!) and they had a team of people there getting things ready which meant that I didn't need to do chair arranging/heavy lifting/etc. before the show. They also took care of me afterwards by giving me accommodation for the following two nights and welcoming me at their church on the Sunday. They also paid the invoice early which mean that I didn't have to chase it up! Prayer Not only did the congregation pray about the storytelling leading up to the night, they had people committed to pray for the event whilst it was happening. The team of helpers came together to pray just before the storytelling began. MC The point-person Katie did a fantastic job as MC. This is an extremely important job because the MC sets the tone for the night. The MC needs to be warm and welcoming, clear about what the audience should expect for the event (especially in regards to the timing of the performance) and set a positive and enthusiastic tone about the show. Follow-up They ran a follow-up course from the evening based on John Dickson's Life of Jesus DVD. Dr. Anderson spoke about the course at the end of the interval and they showed a promotional clip for it. They had copies of Luke's Gospel to give away to anyone there. They also gave time at church the next day for the congregation to reflect on the storytelling and to talk about the ways God's Word impacted them. All these elements came together to make a terrific night. I hope that it's been an encouragement to you and given you ideas for hosting one of our storytellings for your community.   http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=312 Post312 Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:37:33 EST After performing the story in Acts 12 with Peter being rescued from the prison - it struck me how much Luke associates pray with ground-breaking events or answers of prayer. Each one of these results of prayer profoundly changed history forever. Here's some I could find in Luke - (see search results)  The Conception of John the Baptist (Luke 1:10, 1:13) The Redemption of Jerusalem through the coming of Jesus (Luke 2:36-38) Jesus receives the Spirit (Luke 3:21) Jesus' teaching and healing ministry (Luke 5:16) The choice of the 12 Apostles (Luke 6:12-13) Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah (Luke 9:18-20) The Transfiguration (Luke 9:28) The Strengthening of Peter (Luke 22:32) Gethsemane then the Cross (Luke 22:41)   Likewise in Acts - (see search results)  The choice of Matthias (Acts 1:24) The coming of the Spirit (Acts 1:14, 2:1) The growth of the Early Church (Acts 2:42) Boldness to preach (Acts 4:31) The Spirit is given to the Samaritans (Acts 8:15) The healing and conversion of Saul (Acts 9:11) Cornelius' Conversion (Acts 10:2, Acts 10:5, Acts 10:30) Peter is given a vision showing that Gentiles are acceptable to God (Acts 10:9) The miraculous release/escape of Peter (Acts 12:5, Acts 12:12) Saul and Barnabas chosen for the first missionary journey (Acts 13:3) The choice of elders in new churches (Acts 14:23) The Earthquake and the conversion of the Phillipian Jailor (Acts 16:25) The warning to Paul to leave Jerusalem (Acts 22:17) The healing of the Maltese Official's Father (Acts 28:8) I guess we shouldn't be surprised: Seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Luke 11:9     http://www.thebackyardbard.com/rob/blog/post.php?postID=317 Post317 Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:54:45 EST