A lament

In the midst of a struggle

 in the mist of devouring blackness

I find myself crying out to You

I want to worship

 My heart desires something deeper something more profound and yet

I am here on the shores of your presence with a broken canoe

The desire to set forth,

to bring something new to pass

 bursts and burns my soul

I want to explore

to feel Your spirit on my face to taste the salt of Your refreshing  and yet

I am here on the shores of your presence with a broken canoe

At times though

the pollution overwhelms

my paddle slips my feeble grasp

disappearing in the dark

and I sit on the shores of your presence facing  a broken canoe.

Cris Jubb 10/4/15

Monday Musings- Thoughts on the Monday after Sunday 1

We didn't go to church yesterday, rather we ventured up to Halls Gap for the first time in six years. We were catching up with some family enjoying a picnic and some time together. After lunch we ventured up to the Venus Baths and it was while wandering midst the soaring natural buttresses of the the Grampians National Park that I started to reflect a little on how we as Christians worship on a Sunday morning. The Christian faith is one that affirms God as creator of this world and although the creation has been marred by sin our faith celebrates this fact. Many scriptures bear witness to this celebration of creation especially in the book of Psalms; for example

Psalm 8: 3-4
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?[c]

or

Psalm 19 1-4

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

The church in its worship music also celebrates Gods creation , be it hymns such as How Great Thou Art

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.

or modern worship songs such as God of Wonders

Lord of all creation
Of water, earth, and sky
The heavens are Your tabernacle
Glory to the Lord on High

God of wonders, beyond out galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy, holy

Whether in the scriptures or in worship music Gods creation is celebrated as something that in its beauty and in the moments when it takes your breath away that points us to God.

Why then do we worship God inside buildings that at best reflect the beauty of what man has made and at worst have no beauty at all.

Church we need to get outside more, into the world that God has made for us to enjoy and not seal ourselves inside a box .

Genesis 6

This chapter opens with the curious account of the Nephilim. The offspring of the Sons of God and the daughters of men. Then swiftly moves to the great wickedness of man. The Lord grieved and resolved to destroy humanity with the exception of the one righteous man Noah whom God commissioned to rescue all the animals with an ark.

Matthew 4

Straight after he is Baptised by John. Jesus heads in to the Judean wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After 40 days of fasting the Devil makes his move, but in direct contrast with Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. Jesus rebukes and rebuffs the Devil's every move. The Devil then withdraws and Jesus returns to Galilee to begin his ministry. He preaches calls the first disciples and heals the sick.

Genesis 5

The list of the generations for Adam to Noah notable for the long life spans Methuselah clocks in at 969 and for Enoch who walked with God and whos e death is not recorded because God took him away

Matthew 3

John the Baptist emerges on the scene preaching repentance and baptising people. He condemns the Pharisees and speaks of the one to come who will baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Jesus now an adult appears and is baptised to Gods spoken approval.

Genesis 4

The first Children, the first sibling squabble,the first murder Cain kills his brother Abel and people begin to populate the earth and sin begins to take hold.

Matthew 2

The wise men seeking to find the king of the Jews follow the star to Jerusalem. After stopping with Herod they are sent to Bethlehem. They find the child and worship him with gifts returning home a different way after being warned by an angel not to go back to Herod. Herod is furious and frightened for his position orders the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem 2 years old and younger. Forewarned of this Joseph and Mary flee to Egypt, not returning home until Herod is dead.

Genesis 3

Salad Days are over.

This is one of the most pivotal chapters in the Old Testament. The serpent enters Eden and convinces Adam and Eve to disobey God. The results are catastrophic They are suddenly aware of their nakedness, and the sin that they commit separates them from God and The couple are banished from the garden and the serpent is cursed. However there is a glimmer of hope that restoration of the relationship with God may be possible.

Matthew Chapter 1

The Birth of Jesus

After a Genealogy of Jesus that links him all the way back to Abraham. This Chapter ends with the account of his virgin birth in Bethlehem. Highlighting both the fulfilment of prophecy and obedience of Mary & Joseph.

Genesis 2

The account of the creation of man and the first mention of the Garden of Eden. Adam obeys the command to name all the animals and when he does so realises that there is no partner for him where upon God creates woman for it is not good for man to be alone. When this is done all is well in the creation

Genesis 1

The Creation Story

In six days the universe and all that is in it is created by God speaking it into existence. A beautiful account of how we came to be and probably the most argued over of all bible chapters.

1 Cor 11

Paul writing to the Corinthian Church

The first half of this chapter deals with the right way to worship in church. Men should not have their head covered nor should they have long hair. Women on the hand should have their hair covered and should have long hair. Paul writes that for a man to have long hair or for women to have short hair it is a disgrace . These directions specifically deal with Paul.s time.At that time in history it was only the immoral women who had short or shorn hair and Paul is anxious that the church's testimony should not be tarnished by inappropriate behaviour. Like wise at the time men uncovered their heads in worship in respect of the Diety that they followed. For us in the 21st century this passage really speaks about our wise and respectful use of our freedom that we have in Christ, being aware of the world around us and not willing flaunting our freedom .

The second half of this chapter deals with the institution of the Lords supper. Paul outlines the form it should take, then sternly warns of the consequences of not taking the Lords Supper seriously.

Ahh I'm back and its a new year lets see how long it lasts but i would like to post some more entrys on this long dormant blog . we will see how this year unfolds.

I nearly fell off my chair the other day (it was quite dangerous as I was driving at the time) when heard that the cost for a wedding here in Australia is $75,000 there is something wrong in a society that puts more effort into the wedding than it does into the marriage
Cris

Film and The Christian

Do you like going to the movies? There nothing really like sitting in a darkened theatre, fragrant popcorn in hand, that sense of expectation that you are about to enter into another world, into someone else’s stories. However movies today seem to be increasing vile and depraved, full of violence and sexual immorality, language and all sort’s of foul behavior. How are we to respond to this? Should we walk away? Just boycott the entire industry? Should we picket movie theatres protesting loudly? I don’t believe that this is what we should do. Hollywood is a major influence on the world’s culture and, if Christians walk away from Hollywood, it is only going to get worse. We need to make sure that decent films are well supported at the box office for above all else the movie industry is about making money, if decent family films make money, then more decent family films will be made. That is why the story behind Walden Media the producers of The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe is so exciting.
Founded by Cary Granat, the producer of films such as Scream and Scary Movie, Walden Media found its Genesis when Granat, in a road to Damascus moment discovered his terrified 2 year old daughter watching the dailies from Scream. While Walden Media is funded by billionaire businessman and Christian conservative Philip Anschutz, it must be stated that they are not a "Christian" film maker however Walden’s signature strategy of high-quality adaptations of kids literature classics supported with aggressive, education-focused grassroots marketing deserves our support. Walden are not very keen on fart jokes, dirty words, and cynicism. They are determined to make positive family friendly movies, movies that evoke wonder and fantasy, engaging the imaginations of children. That alone makes it a company worth supporting,
Cris
There are numerous resources available to Christians, who wish to go to the movies. One of the best is http://www.pluggedinonline.com/ a ministry of Focus on the Family on this site you can find christens reviews of the latest movies and DVD’s other Christian movie review sites include http://past-the-popcorn.gospelcom.net/ &
http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/

1 in 7000 Letters from the Philippines

Pt one the people
The first and almost overwhelming impression that I had on exiting the terminal at Cebu City was one of business, of life flowing through streets of the city like life blood rushes through the veins in your body, the senc is due in very large part to the people of the Philppines. I am told that fully 50% of the population of the Philippines is under 15 years old and looking around I can easily belive it youth and its abounding energy is everywhere. The oldest person I have met Ps Rod is 52 everyone else is between 15 and 30.the Philippino poeple live on the streets and every streets is full of people cooking playing motor cycles rickshaws scooters it is like a festival every night it is chaotic but full of life. The people here are also very industrious making their house out of whatever they can lay their hands on , So their house are an amazing mix of bricks and concrete, thatched & tins rooves, woven walls, bamboo walls. The houses are jumbling rambling affairs almost built on top of each other crammed together with very little room between them. They are almost organic as if the house have grown out the ground into all sorts of fantastic shapes like like twisted and gnarled trees in an ancient forest. The people make a living, in the cities at least, by selling almost every of imaginable products out front of their homes, in little home made street stalls. phonecards coke, dried coconut firewood all sorts of interesting looking breads and meats. Whereas in the country people scratch out out a living on small plots barely big enough to support themselves let alone have enough to sell . It is truly an amazing country.

I have decided to relaunch jubberish, although given that i am most probbaly the slackest blogger in the netverse no none will care however if perchance someone happens to read this then bless you for perseverence or for actually stopping by.
Cris

That enviromental piece pt 1

1. This is my Father's world,
and to my listening ears
all nature sings, and round me rings
the music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world:
I rest me in the thought
of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
his hand the wonders wrought.

2. This is my Father's world,
the birds their carols raise,
the morning light, the lily white,
declare their maker's praise.
This is my Father's world:
he shines in all that's fair;
in the rustling grass I hear him pass;
he speaks to me everywhere.

3. This is my Father's world.
O let me ne'er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father's world:
why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King; let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let the earth be glad!
Maltie B Babcock
It is time that we as Christians reclaimed the doctrine of creation. For too long for fear of appearing as pagan earth lovers we have left environmental concerns to others or worse still have done nothing. Francis Schaffer in his book pollution and the death of man argues that in fact Christians have to answer for a lot of blame for how western society has exploited and polluted the earth. Schaffer believes that the mandate to rule and subdue the earth that was given to man in the Garden in Genesis 1:26
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [b] and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
has provided the impetus and theological framework that has allowed western society in particular to become one of the biggest destroyers of the earth’s environment today. How then are we as Christians to respond to this statement? I will attempt to answer that question in my next post.
Cris

Aggh i feel bad since I haven't posted any thing for ages the enviroment piece is still coming (hopefully before Christmas) and I hope to post more regularly but we will see. If there is any out there hang in, it will happen.
Cris